Straw Hat Sisters
by germanwarrior96
Summary: Follow Lea and Raven as they travel with their brother Monkey. D. Luffy to help him gain the title of King of the Pirates. ***We DO NOT OWN ONE PIECE***
1. The Straw Hat and his Sisters

Bouncing against the hull were three barrels that were tied together with rope. As the waves sloshed around, the seagulls were cawing from above. These simple sounds alerted two sailors. The heavier-set man spotted the barrel first before calling over his skinnier friend. The man then grabbed his hook and started to whirl it over his head. He then hurtled it towards the barrels. At first, it missed, and that resulted in a snicker from his friend.

"I missed again," The larger man grumbled.

"Three strikes pale," His friend commented with a smirk.

From above the two, another voice was heard, as a third man looked down at the two. "If I threw that one, I would be embarrassed," He laughed from the crows nest. "You suck!" He said before glancing around until he eyed a small island in the distance.

It wasn't long before the group of barrels was hauled onto the ship. The two sailors couldn't do it by themselves so they asked three others to help them. "Their heavier than I thought they would be," Muttered the larger fellow.

"Maybe they are filled with beer," Commented another guy.

"Well it's our beer now," smirked the skinny sailor.

"I'm not sharing my half," said the stout man.

From above the small group, the man from earlier called out in fear, "Ship spotted on Port Bow!" The group of men gasped as they saw the obnoxiously pink ship. "They're flying a pirate flag. We have a pirate ship in pursuit!" The sailors then dropped the barrels abruptly to go warn the ship.

Inside, people were screaming as the group burst through the door. "Captain! We're under attack!" Warned the skinny man with the baby-styled hairdo.

"What!" Screamed the captain. "Everybody please stay calm!" He said as he meandered around the ballroom. As hard as he tried, they didn't listen. Fear and panic had already settled in.

It wasn't until a few minutes later, that a cannonball had hit the main mast, toppling it over. The shock shook the ship which made the barrels that were dropped bounce around. The rope had snagged onto a loose nail and cut the rope, letting the trio roll free. It wasn't long until they rolled towards a ladder and fell down it and onto hitting an open door. The three then spun until they were all in the kitchen, the last barrel had broken the door.

Above the kitchen, pirates threw their hooks and started to board. It wasn't long before the whole crew was on the passenger ship. One 'pirate' had snuck away and had found himself in the kitchen. "Good, there is no one in here," Stuttered the pink-haired cabin boy. He let out a sigh, "That is a relief." Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the three barrels. "Woah," He breathed. "Those are some big barrels. I wonder what's inside them," He remarked in awe before making his way to them.

It wasn't long before the boy stood two of the barrels up. He didn't want them moving away from him if the ship moved. He then proceeded to roll the third one to the door. Before he could leave the room, he was stopped by three members of the pirate crew he was in.

"It's our favorite weakling," commented a rather buff guy. He was wearing a striped shirt and had a striped headband to match. "You trying to hide in here, and duck out in all the action again?" He asked in a rough grunt.

The boy with the blue glasses quickly brought his hands up in denial. "N..no way! I was just trying to haul this big barrel of beer over to you guys!" He said in defense.

"Why don't you let us lighten the load," Chuckled the man.

"I was just starting to get thirsty," remarked the tall pirate in the back. His golden hair a bit ragged from all the sea salt.

"N..no way, you can't! Lady Alvida would kill us if she ever found out!" Squeaked the boy.

"She won't if you keep your trap shut," Remarked the third pirate. He had a few tattoos here and there. One of them being a scroll-like design around his eye. "Right? Boy."

"R..right," The boy muttered before backing away slowly so that the three can crack open the barrel to get a couple swigs.

The stronger man in stripes then stood the barrel up as he commented on how heavy it was. He then smirked as he stood up straight and cracked his knuckles. "Hold on boys, I'll open it the old fashion way." He then wound up his arm and prepared to strike. He waited too long to hit it when a pair of fists broke through the top and knocked him out.

The two other pirates and the boy all were shocked, as their mouths were on the floor.

" . !" Screamed the lanky black-haired boy with a straw hat on his head. He didn't realize that he knocked a man unconscious. Nearby, a noise was stirring from within the second barrel. Soon the top was opened to reveal a young lady as she stepped out, her black hair was tied in a ponytail.

"Luffy! What did you do now!" Asked the girl as her sky-blue eyes took in the scene.

A groan then was heard from the third barrel as another girl came out. Her red hair was a bit choppy and short. She stepped out of the barrel, dusting her cherished black coat, before joining the other girl. She opened her eyes to reveal topaz coloring and it was glowing with annoyance. "Remind me to never do that again," She muttered.

No one answered any of the questions as Luffy had turned to look at the guy who he accidentally knocked out. "Who's he?" He asked before turning to the girls. "Raven, Lea, are you both ok?" He asked.

"I'm fine, just a little dizzy," Remarked Lea as she checked over her coat one last time. Her hand then went to her neck to feel if her necklace was still there. She let out a small sigh of relief as she feels it there.

Raven nodded,"Yeah I'm fine, but I don't think he is," She said as she glanced at the man on the floor.

The two pirates still couldn't say anything as they just stared at them in disbelief, no one exactly knew what was happening. Luffy turned to the two and asked, "Who're you guys?" He asked.

The two then screamed in unison, "Who the HELL are you three!"

Luffy didn't answer as he finally stepped out of the barrel. "Your friend will catch a cold sleeping like that," He remarked.

"You're the one who knocked him out!" They screamed. The tattooed man then drew out his sword and held it to Luffy's neck. "Hold up, are you messing with us and you know well that we are vicious pirates."

Both Lea and Raven didn't flinch from the drawn blade. Lea raised a brow before asking bluntly, "If you're so vicious, then why are you hesitating?"

The man with the scroll tattoo over his eye ignored the girl but started to yell as Luffy walked away from his blade and towards the pink-haired boy and asked him for food. 'Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Both men had enough of the straw-hatted boy, so they raised their swords to strike as the skinny pirate muttered, "Stupid kid." Luffy just looked over his shoulder and soon the sword points were broken and embedded into the ceiling.

"Man, those are horribly made," Remarked Lea.

"The blacksmith who made them should be ashamed. I would've made them better," Huffed Raven as she folded her arms and watched the trembling two.

During the small fight, the boy had fallen to his knees and covered his eyes in fear. Slowly he looked up to see Luffy perfectly fine. The two pirates stood there in shock as they held the broken halves of their weapons. Luffy looked an raised a brow in concern, "What is wrong with you two?" Luffy asked. The boy's face was stuck in disbelief.

One of the two said in fear, "Who are you!"

Luffy crossed his arms and gave a grin. "Me?" He asked before telling them, "My name is Monkey D. Luffy. Hi. And these are my older sisters."

Raven barely raised a hand, "I'm Raven and you two should be ashamed that you carry such cheap weaponry!"

Lea just rolled her eyes before speaking. Her lips drawn into a smirk. "I"m Alandai D. Lea."

The two just shook their heads before quickly grabbing their unconscious friend and left screaming. Lea and Raven laughed at their idiocy and cowardice.

The boy finally got the nerve to speak, "so what happened?" He asked as he fiddled with his blue framed glasses.

"You got me, " Replied Luffy.

The boy then turned his head to the girls who only shrug and shake their heads in an answer. He then realized what was going to happen and got up to panic to Luffy. "You got to run! If they come back with their friends, you'll be in trouble!"

"I don't really care, I'm just hungry."

"You're always hungry, Luffy," Lea said in exasperation.

"You can't just blow all of this off like that," The pink-haired boy said nervously. "There are hundreds of them upon deck and they are waiting for the opportunity to kill anything," He said as he tried to hold Luffy back with one arm. The girls just followed behind their brother nonchalantly.

Luffy continued to ignore the boy as he moved around the room a bit. He soon came to a door and opened it. It led him to the pantry. He got excited and grinned wildly at seeing all the food. He got himself free from the boy's grasp and jumped down to scavenge.

The two girls and the boy stayed by the door. "Who knows, we might be safe in here," The boy said as he checked around outside the door before closing it and he began to watch Luffy as he found a box.

"This box looks promising…."Luffy said before prying it open to reveal ripe red fruit. "APPLES!" He remarked happily before he started to inhale a couple at a time.

Raven shook her head, "First time I heard him get excited about fruit."

"You're telling me," Lea said. "Hey, Luffy pass me an apple!"

The boy looked at the trio strangely as Luffy threw an apple to each of the girls. He was going to throw one at the boy but he declined it.

As Luffy continued to eat, the boy piped up again and said his name, "My name is Colby by the way." He then smiled slightly. "That was pretty neat what you did back there."

"Thanks. Are we on a pirate ship?" Luffy asked.

"No, It's a passenger ship that's being raided by pirates under the command of Lady Alvida."

Lea paused from eating her apple and looked at Raven, "Hey Raven, does that name sound familiar to you?"

Raven nodded, "Yes, I believe I heard it before."

"I don't really care. I just want to know if there are any small boats onboard, "Luffy said.

"I think there are a few," Colby answered.

"Great cause ours got sunk into a whirlpool," He commented.

"No way, that big one outside!"

"Unfortunately, yes," Lea said as she finished her apple and threw away the core.

"We couldn't save our ship, so we tied three barrels together and got in," Raven said.

Luffy cut into the conversation and asked if he was part of the pirate crew or one of the passengers. The girls watched as they waited for Colby to answer them. Colby then became quiet before explaining his backstory of how he got on Alvida's ship.

"You're pretty stupid," Luffy said bluntly. Lea and Raven already knew how brutally honest he was so they didn't comment. "If you hate it then leave," Luffy said. Colby started to protest and panic about why he couldn't do it but he was cut short as Luffy just laughed. "You're a moron and a coward. I hate people like you," He said.

"Ok Luffy that was a little too much, "Lea said as she walked over and placed her hand on her little brother's head.

Meanwhile, the two pirates from before popped up from below deck and tried to get Alvida's attention. "This is bad!" They said in unison.

"Yeeeeeaaaah?" She snarled as she turned to the two with her large, Iron club in hand. "Then out with it!"

"It came from inside the barrel...with two others. It was a horrible monster!"

Alvida was getting pissed as her face twisted in anger. The two men shrunk back in fear. Their large leader then reeled back her iron club before throwing it at them. Right before it hit them, the ducked down while their friend, who had regained consciousness stood up. The striped pirate then got hit by the club and was sent into the railing and out into the sea. The club then came back down and landed on the other two's head.

"We...we're not talking about you, my lady. We were talking about the guy in the barrel, he might be a bounty hunter," The two replied as they rubbed their heads.

She snarled.

Back in the pantry, Colby was whispering, "You're right. If I had the courage I would drift in a barrel and be rid of these pirates and follow my own dream. Someday I'll do it." He said before asking the three, "So what got you three to first set sail?"

"Well, I'm going to be King of the pirates!" Luffy exclaimed.

"And I'm going to help him get there," Lea piped in. "Where else can you be the freest than with the king?"

Raven then added and grinned, "And I want to be the best blacksmith in the world!"

Colby gave the three a 'what the hell' face and started whimpering, "The King? Are you Serious?"

"Yeah," The trio said.

"But that would mean that you three are pirates too."

Luffy nodded and said, "That's right."

"Your crew?"

"Just us three. My advisor, blacksmith and I."

Colby then stood u-p, "King of the pirates is a title that is given to the one who obtains everything this world has to offer. You're talking about seeking the great treasure of wealth, fame, and power." He then threw his arms open, "The treasure that you seek is the One Piece!"

"Yeah!" Luffy said happily.

Colby then began to shake his head, "No way, that's impossible there are too many people looking for it." Luffy then interrupted him before he can go all the way into a rant. Colby was knocked to his knees as he held his head. "Why did you do that?" He asked.

"Because I felt like it," Luffy said simply.

"Well, I'm used to it. Everyone on the ship does it a lot," Colby sighed.

Luffy then took a hold of his hat and said," It's not if I can, I"m doing this because I want to." Colby then looked at him in awe and inspiration. Luffy took his hat off and looked at it as he said, "I decided long ago that I"m going to be King of the Pirates. If I have to die fighting for it, then I die."

Lea then ruffled Luffy's hair, "Nicely said."

He put his hat back on and walked back to the door, leaving Colby to think on what he said. "Now that we have eaten, let's get a new boat."

Raven nodded and started to join her brother "Right behind you Luffy," Lea said as she followed behind.

"I never thought about it like that," Murmured Colby. "If I put my mind to it, if I'm prepared to die for it," He began his small speech and it caught the attention of the trio.

"Like what?" Luffy asked.

"Do you think I could join the marines?" Colby asked instead of answering Luffy directly.

"The marines?" He asked before turning to his sisters and whispered, "Gramps would love this kid." They both agreed.

Colby then stood up determinedly with his fist in the air. "Yes! Catching bad guys is the only thing that I ever wanted to do. It's been my dream since I was a child!"

"You still look like a child," Lea commented. Raven stifle a chuckle.

"Do you think I can do it?" He asked again but this time in a pleading tone.

"How should I know that?" Luffy asked in an attitude.

Colby became even more determined, "I'm gonna do it! I'm not gonna get stuck here as a cabin boy for the rest of my life! I'm gonna break out and I'll turn right around and catch Alvida myself!"

Out of nowhere, Alvida burst through the roof, giving Colby only seconds to dodge her massive size. " Who is that you planning to catch, Colby? Are you actually thinking these twigs are going to help you? Well?" Colby stood there cowering as the girls looked on unimpressed. "Answer me!" She ordered.

All of a sudden, swords came through the wall around Luffy's head, he didn't flinch. Alvida then turned her attention to Luffy and the two girls as she didn't get an answer from Colby. Just like his sisters, Luffy was unimpressed.

She smirked, "My guess is that you aren't Zoro the Pirate Hunter." Colby gasped as Luffy repeated the name in confusion. "COOOLLLBBYY!" Alvida said as she looked back at the small boy. Colby screamed. "Who is the most beautiful of all on these seas?"

"Well, I….um," Colby stuttered. "Give me a second, I know this."

Luffy just pointed his finger at Alvida and asked, "Colby, who's the fat lady?"

Everyone's jaws dropped in shock as Lea laughed. "I love your bluntness Luffy!" She said with tears in her eyes.

Her crew started to get worried as Alvida's anger rose. "YOU RAT!" She yelled as she raised her club. At the last second Luffy and the girls dodged the blow. The club destroyed the place they once stood, all that was left was splintered wood.

"Let's go," Luffy said to Colby as they jumped out of the hole. Raven and lea were already waiting for them up there. Alvida's crew was there as well and they were ready to fight. Soon one pirate came charging up and the battle started. The three each were fighting multiple pirates at once. Colby smiled as he watched until one guy tried to attack Luffy from behind. "That's not fair to attack someone from behind," He said. The pirate tried to get his sword out from the floorboards.

Lea had brought out her knives and she came to the embedded sword and cut it into ribbons. "Now this is how a weapon should be made," She said as she showed off her knives. Raven then smirked as she dodged the guy that Luffy threw at the men behind her. More men appeared and they went right for Luffy.

Luffy ran past Colby and grabbed onto the mast. His arm was stretching as he continued to run. The men looked at it in disbelief and screamed. "Got ya!" Luffy said before firing himself back at them as Alvida watched in shock.

Colby staggered towards him asking, "Luffy, what are you?"

"Oh, I'm a rubber man," He said as he pulled his mouth impossibly wide.

"So...you're...made of rubber?" He squeaked as Alvida came up behind him. "I…." He felt a cold feeling go down his spine in instinct before he fumbled to get behind Luffy.

"So..you've eaten one of the devil fruits," Alvida said.

"Yeah," Luffy said as he let go of his mouth. "I ate the Gum-Gum one."

"Aha," She said simply. "I heard rumors that they existed but I'd never seen any evidence of them before today." She then smirked. "You are more skilled than the average deck swabber. ARe you a bounty hunter?" She asked.

"I'm a pirate"

"Pirate? Hah! All by yourself? In these waters?"

"I'm not alone, I have my two sisters. I'll find the rest of my crew tomorrow, or next week or something."

Alvida laughed one more, "Tell me if we're both pirates and we're not under the same flag, that would make us enemies. Am I right?"

Colby was shaking behind Luffy and he stutters, "Uh...Luffy. Let's go," Both Raven and Lea watched the two but didn't move.

"But why?" Luffy asked.

"You don't know how powerful her club is, and of all the cheats in these waters…" He was cut off as Luffy just stared at him. He then remembered what Luffy had told him before.

Alvida just smirked as she watched them, "Go on...tell me."

Colby then snapped and turned to face the woman. "YOU'RE THE MOST UGLIEST THING ON THIS SEA!" Colby's little outburst made Alvida's crew drop their jaws. They couldn't believe that he said that to her. They knew it would ensure his death. Raven and lea just started to laugh and grin. Alvida's face was frozen in anger and death was seen in her eyes. Colby had his eyes closed and his face was bunched up. He was preparing for his death.

Luffy burst out laughing, which made Alvida snap, "What you say!"

Colby stepped closer, "I really mean it! I'm going to join the marines. Then I'm going to spend the rest of my life beating up dirty pirates like you!"

"Do you have any clue in what you are saying to me right now?" Alvida asked darkly and through her gritted teeth.

"Of course I do! And I'm going to do what I want to do and nothing is going to stop me! I'm going to join the marines and I'm going to catch your lousy ass first!"

Alvida then screams and raises her club, "YOU'RE DEAD KID!"

Colby was screaming as he watched her. Luffy quickly got in front of him and grinned, "Nicely said!"

Alvida then slammed her iron club on Luffy's head. At this point, Lea had turned her arm into metal before slamming it into her club. At first, nothing happened, but then cracks appeared and the club shattered and fell to the floor. Alvida and her crew just watched in shock.

"I"m a shapeshifter. I ate the Shape Shape fruit," Lea said smugly.

As Alvida stood there in silence, Luffy stretched his arm before plowing his fist into her stomach, sending her off the boat and into the sea. The shockwave of her landing in the water made the boat move. Luffy then turned to look at the stun pirates. 'Hey, you!" He said, "Go get a boat for Colby. He's leaving your ship to join the marines. You're not gonna stop him."

"Y..yeah...sure," The crew said before they scrambled to find a boat.

Colby finally eased up and smiled softly, "Thanks Luffy." It was only a few seconds later that cannonballs were fired and landed on the water. Colby had turned to see three ships. "Hey, look, it's the marines."

Luffy just grinned, "oooooh. Perfect timing! Head over there and tell them that you want to join," He said to Colby. "But I'm a pirate so I'm out of here." Luffy then jumped over the railing.

"See you around Colby," Raven said before Lea and she followed their brother up and over the railing and onto the boat.

"Hey wait! You can't be serious! If I approach them now, they'll catch me like another pirate!" Colby said as he hopped over the railing to join them in the boat before Luffy dropped it into the water. The girls and Colby were holding onto the edge of the small boat tightly. As they landed in the water, it caused water to rise up and a woman's scream was heard. Luffy was grinning and holding his hat when he spotted an orange-haired girl. Their eyes met before a cannonball landed between them and blocked his view. The group used this distraction as a way to get out of there.

When they were far enough away from the other ships, Colby spoke up, "We actually managed to get away…"

Luffy just laughed, "Ah! What fun!"

"So Luffy, if you are searching for the elusive One PIece, then you have to be heading to the Grand Line, right? You know the people that I've talked to said that it's the pirate graveyard." He said from behind a barrel.

"Right," Luffy said with a nod. "And that's why I need an extra strong crew. I already started it with these two," He said as he pointed to the girls next to him. "You guys mentioned some pirate hunter. So what's he like?"

"Oh you mean Zoro, last time I heard, he's being held prisoner at some Marine base," Colby stated.

Luffy shrugged, "Oh well, weakling huh?"

"Wait no! You're so wrong!" Colby said as he ran to the barrel and leaned on it to talk to Luffy. "He's as violent as a demon and three times as horrifying!" Colby explained before calming down a bit. "Why are you asking about him Luffy?"

Luffy then grinned, "I figured if he's good enough, then I would ask him to join my crew."

"Chasing him down is just plain reckless!"

"Oh, you don't know. He might jump at the chance to join,"

"He's a bad enough guy, that the Marines have him, no way. Forget it! No-Ow!" Colby ranted until he was hit in the head by Luffy again. "Why'd you hit me?"

"Cuz I felt like it," Luffy said simply.


	2. The Green-haired Demon

"What a day! It's gorgeous," Luffy said as he stretched out his limbs to embrace the warmth. Nearby Colby had taken his fishing rod that was on the boat and started to fish. Raven and Lea nodded as they were relaxing. Raven's fingers were playing with the water absentmindedly.

"As long as we stay on route we should reach the marine base in no time at all," Colby said happily.

"Wow Colby, you're great out here, we are actually heading in the right direction," Luffy said with a grin. Raven just shook her head at her brother.

"Of course, it's nothing. I'm just using the skills all sailors should have," He said before adjusting his glasses and watched Luffy. Luffy just laughed as he looked at the sea ahead of him. "There's nothing to laugh at because, at the marine base, they are holding the pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro," Colby said before going on and on about the monstrosities that the captor had done.

"Sounds interesting to me," Lea said with a shrug.

Colby was going to say something but Raven spoke up before him, "Who knows, he might be a good guy with a bad attitude," She said with a shrug.

"That's impossible, he's a prisoner of the marines. He has to be a bad guy," Colby tries to argue.

"Never judge a book by its cover," Lea said.

"Use Luffy for example, he may look weak but he's not," Raven explained.

Colby barely nodded before he spotted the island. The group then guided the boat to the docks. Soon they all got out and stretched their limbs.

Luffy puts his arms down as he grinned and looked around, "We're here."

"We can see that Luffy," Lea said with a chuckle. The people who lived by the docks had raised a brow in his direction. He quietly nodded before leading the group into the marketplace. Colby then continued to try and persuade the group that Zorro was not someone he wanted to bring onto their crew.

"I haven't made up my mind yet. Let's see if he's a nice guy first," Luffy said as he continued to walk and look at the merchants and their wares.

"He's in prison because he is obviously not!" Colby said as Luffy picked up a pear. He took a bite out of it before flipping a coin to the merchant lady who he took the pear from.

"Have you seen Roronoa Zoro here?" Luffy asked the lady. His question shook the lady to the core and she went and hide. Raven looked around to see that the townspeople also started to panic at the words.

Colby looked confused but whispered to the group, "Let's not mention Zoro around here."

"That's the strangest thing I've seen and we grew up with mountain bandits, "Lea said quietly as she watched the people around her, Raven nodded in agreement.

"Let's head to the base and check it out, you want to be a marine, " Luffy said to Colby and raised a brow, "Right?"

"Well, of course," Colby said before sighing, "I just don't think I'm ready yet."

"Don't underestimate yourself, Colby," Lea said as she placed a hand on his shoulder for encouragement. She let it sit there for a couple seconds before pulling it away.

Colby gave a soft smile and nodded to Lea before turning back to look at Luffy. "Yea, you're right. Captain Morgan is in charge here, so I can try to ask him," He said. At the mention of the name, the people around them reacted in a terrified state, just like how they did when Luffy said Zoro's name. Raven just arched her brow while Luffy started to burst out laughing.

"This town is such a weird place," Luffy said through his laughter.

"I have to agree with him. It is usually a bad thing when people react badly to marines like this, "Lea said as she looked at all the frightened faces.

"I don't understand it. Why are they acting that way?" Colby asked

"Well the world isn't all black and white," Lea said to him.

"I don't know, I have a bad feeling about this," Colby said in a small stutter as he shook his head. The group then left the marketplace in search for the marine base. It didn't take them long.

"Well, here we are," Luffy said as the four stopped at a massive iron door that had the symbol of the marines branded on it.

Colby then started to tear up as he started to rub his eyes. "I can't believe I'm here. This is where we part ways. We didn't have long together but it was fun while it lasted. Thank you Luffy, Lea,-" He began to say when he looked up to see that the three had walked away and to the side, as they were looking for Zoro. The small group of three were up the stone wall. They were looking over the top of it when Colby tried to get them down from below. He soon stopped in defeat before joining them up there. He looked over to where they were looking and gasped.

"Colby, look!" Luffy said as he pointed to the green-haired guy who was tied to a poll in a crucified way. Colby just stared with wide eyes.

"That is REALLY cruel," Lea mutters under her breath as she looked at Zoro with slightly saddened eyes.

"If we just untie those ropes then he could just walk away," Luffy said simply.

"You're stating the obvious Luffy," Lea said with a shake of her head.

"I can't see him like this, we should do something," Raven said as she watched the guy.

Colby then started to yell at the three and tried to explain to them that it would be a bad idea. Raven and Lea just rolled their eyes at him. Colby didn't stop talking until the small group heard another voice.

"Hey you four over there," Said the voice. The group turned to look at Zoro. "You're an eyesore. Get Lost," He said simply. When Colby got picked on by Zoro, he started to freak out and panic. He was the only one panicking, for the other three were just watching him calmly. Before anyone could say anything else, the group's attention was drawn to the side as a wooden ladder appeared along with a small girl with brunette pigtails. She looked to the left and than then to the group. She placed a finger over her lips and shushed them before climbing over the edge and into the courtyard below. Colby just stared with wide eyes.

"Ain't she cute," Lea said with a smile. Raven just nodded as her eyes sparkled happily. Both she and Lea adored kids. Colby just watched and panicked as he saw her run over to Zoro, his hands in his mouth as he started to bite his nails. They saw the small girl take out a small package from her bag and showed it to Zoro. Raven couldn't help but smile seeing her so happy to give him something.

"What do you want?" Zoro asked the girl.

"I thought you may be getting hungry now, so I made you a couple rice balls," She said happily as she unwrapped them to show the homemade rice balls.

"You have a death wish kid? Scram," Zoro said sternly.

The small girl didn't budge. "You haven't eaten anything since you were tied up. So here. I never made them before but I tried my best so I think their fine," She said with some confidence. She just looked up at the guy sweetly.

Zoro just looked at her in surprise. He couldn't help the cuteness. The two girls on the wall were trying not to squeal while Luffy just smiled. Colby was confused as to why the girl was doing this to someone like Zoro.

Zoro then snapped, "Listen, kid, I'm not hungry. Now stop irritating me and get out of here!"

"But…"The girl said a bit disheartened.

"Do not make me kick your ass little girl,"Zoro said sternly.

Nearby, the gate opened to the courtyard as three men entered. "Well, well, look at what we have here. Nobody likes a bully," Said the one with his high pitched voice. "Roronoa Zoro, you seem to be handling this well," Said the really short, blonde bobbed man.

From the wall, Luffy whispered to his crew and friend, "Hey look it's another weird guy."

"With an annoying voice at that," Lea responded with a nod.

"It's a little boy with a big ego," Raven said with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh, great. He must be with the marines," Colby said. Lea just facepalmed.

"Lookie here, some tasty rice balls," Said the blonde man as he snatche3d one from the little girl's hand. It made her flinch a bit.

She regained herself not a second sooner before she started to yell at him, "Hey! That's not for you!" The little girl said to him as Zoro glared at the boy.

The blonde's eyes went wide as he spat out the food and muttered, "It's too sweet! They're packed with sugar!" He said before balling a fist. "You're supposed to use salt!" He screamed at the little girl.

"But I...I thought they'd taste better sweet!" The little girl whimpered before the man smacked the other rice ball out of her hand and started to stomp on it into the dirt. "Stop! I tried so hard to make them!" The little girl cried as tears began to form in the corner of her eyes.

Lea frowns from on top of the wall, "That's just awful," She said as she started to growl in anger.

"Too bad, I bet you hadn't read the notice that was posted. Those who assist criminals in any way would be executed signed Marine Captain Morgan," The man said as he pointed his finger to the notice. A smirk on his lips. The little girl just shrunk in fear. The guy just laughed,"It even seems that even small brats fear my daddy."

The blonde man then turned to the marine to his left and ordered him around. "You there, toss this kid out right now." The soldier hesitated before he was grabbed by the collar by the man he was with. "Now if you won't follow my orders, I'll tell my father," He said in a dark yet whiny tone.

The soldier quickly nodded before he was set down. He then made his way to the girl. "Yes sir, 'he said with a sigh. The man then gently picked up the girl. "I'm' sorry miss, try curling into a ball," He said before throwing her over the wall.

As her body came close to the group, Lea jumped and caught the girl in her arms. As she fell back towards the ground, she flipped so that she would take the brunt of the fall. Luffy looked over in worry but calmed down when he saw that the two were fine. The little girl peeked out from behind her hands and said,"Thanks, miss."

Colby, Luffy, and Raven jumped down to come to the two's side. Raven wanted to make sure that the two were alright and not physically hurt. Colby then bent down to check on the small girl. After a few seconds, he said, "We should bring her back home. I bet her mother is worried sick. Raven nodded as she gently took the girl's hand in hers as she looked at Colby who nodded in agreement.

"I and Luffy are going to stay here, we'll meet you guys later," Lea said before Luffy nodded as he proceeded to jump over the wall. He was more curious about Zoro. Raven nodded before watching her sister climb on after him. Colby had watched too but he started to lead the two girls back towards the small town that they came through not too long ago.

By the time the two leaped over the wall, the Marines were gone. Zoro looked up as the two approached him. Luffy was the first one to break the silence. "So I hear that you are a bad guy," Luffy said simply.

Lea just shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose a bit as he said that. "Really nice intro Luffy," She muttered.

"You two still here?" Zoro sighed as he looked at the two of them.

"You're stuck out here for all to see and nothing" Luffy stated before asking him, "Are you that strong?"

"Mind your own business,"Zoro spat.

"If I were you, I would've starved in three days," Luffy said, ignoring Zoro for a second.

"Luffy, your metabolism works differently than most people, hence you need to eat more," Lea tried to explain to him.

"I got more spirit than you could ever have," Zoro explained with a smirk on his lips. "That's how I'm going to survive this ordeal. This I swear," he said.

Luffy burst out in laughter, "You're a weirdo," He said before he got slapped in the back of the head by his sister for his comment. She shook her head

"Wait," Zoro said before he glanced at the smooshed rice cake in the dirt. "Could you pick that up for me?" He asked before they had time to turn around and leave.

Luffy then bent down before trying to pick it up. "Can you eat this?" He asked as the rice cakes crumbled out of the cracks of his hand. "It's mostly a ball of dirt," he warned.

"Shut up and give it to me NOW!" Zoro screamed. Luffy then helped Zorro eat it before he coughed a bit.

"You should've listened to me," Luffy said as he folded his arms after the whole rice cake was eaten, dirt and all.

"That was good….Thanks for the food," He said quietly before Lea silently bent down and reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a canteen of water. She then gently lifted his chin up.

"Here, you need to drink something," Lea said to Zoro who just stared at her. After a few seconds, he opened his mouth as she put the edge of the canteen to his lips and he slowly began to drink. Water dribbled out of the corner of his lips as he drank.

When he was finished, Lea took the canteen and put it away. As she looked back, he gave her a gentle smirk. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Lea said with a smirk.

An hour or two later, the group had convened outside the little girl's mother's restaurant. "Really?" The little girl asked happily as she clasped her hands together and her smile was bright and big on her face.

"He ate every last grain of rice there was," Luffy said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"That's great!" She said happily.

"I guess Zoro isn't as evil as everyone thinks he is," Colby commented as he questioned his views on the Marines.

The little girl was quick to defend Zoro as she pointed at Colby and said," He's not! He's good because he got himself punished for us," she said as she folded her arms.

"You're making no sense," Luffy said.

"Giver her a chance to explain," Lea scolded as she gave her brother another bop on the head.

"Sorry. It's that dumb Helmeppo's fault. He's the son of Captain Morgan," She said as she started to tell them what had happened to Zoro. It took her a few minutes to complete the story before she broke down crying.

Lea looked amazed as the tale was told. "OK, my respect for him has gone way up," She said with a smile.

Raven nodded at Lea before she gently pulled the little girl into a hug so she could calm down. She then clenched her fist as she said "Wait till I get my hands on Helmeppo, He'll regret trying to hurt her!" Her eyes were ablaze.

Lea pats the black haired girl's shoulder, "The guy's an idiot, he'll get what he deserves."

Raven sighed and nodded before muttering, "Yes, he's just lucky that I didn't bring good ol' Lucy out from the boat. She was referring to her favorite hammer.

"Where the heck did you keep it?" Lea asked with a raised brow.

"You mean HER! And that's my secret," Raven said with a smirk. Lea just shook her head as she gave her a weird look. The small girl in Raven's arms started to sob a bit.

"I just don't know what to do," She whimpered as Raven tried to calm her down again. Her smirk was replaced with a gentle worried look.

Sulking on a step behind her, Colby said, "I can see why you are upset."

The small girl was going to reply when they all heard the sound of breaking glass that came from inside. "What was that?" Lea asked quickly.

"I don't know, but I can guess who it may be and oh how I wished that I had brought Lucy," Raven muttered as she clenched her fist again. It didn't take long before the group barged into the restaurant to see Helmeppo with his feet on the table as he demanded free food. Standing behind him were two marines. He was threatening the mother that if she didn't obey his orders he would have his dad execute her and her child.

The woman had quickly gotten to work and gave him some food and a drink. Her face scrunched up in worry for her daughter. Raven was holding back Lea and Colby was holding back Luffy. They were on the edge of tackling him when they stopped to listen to what he had to say.

"I'm so bored," Helmeppo complained as he sipped at his wine. "I guess I could just execute Zoro," He said to the men behind him before he started to laugh at his idea.

"What did he say…." Lea said as she began to snarl. Helmeppo's words had broken a chord with not only Lea but Luffy as well. Luffy's eyes narrowed before he ran up and slammed his fist into the man's face. Helmeppo dropped his drink on the floor and it began to pool as he was slammed into the wall.

Raven just smirked as Helmeppo looked up I shock as he held his cheek. "Y..you just hit me!"

"Yeah, for a good reason," Lea said as she cracked her knuckles before winding her arm up and hitting him also.

"They're not the only ones to do so!" Raven snarled before punching him to the ground again as he tried to get up. The other marines now ran to his side.

"Y..you guys actually hit me!" Was all Helmeppo could say as he staggered to his feet with the help of his men.

"Welcome to the real world! You can't get everything you want," Lea muttered as she folded her arms.

" "I'M CAPTAIN MORGAN'S SON! JUST SO YOU KNOW!" He yelled at them as he clenched his own hands. Raven swore that steam was coming out of his ears.

"As if we care," Replied Luffy, Lea, and Raven. Colby just watched from the sidelines. He was with the young girl and her mother. His eyes wide.

"You'll care when he personally executes you three!" The blonde man screams.

"I would like to see him try," Lea said as she puts her hand on her hips.

"Why don't you just be a man and fight!" Luffy snarled.

"Because he's too girly, that's why," Lea said simply.

Luffy snarled and he clenched his fists tighter, "I made up my mind, Zoro is going to join my crew."

Helmeppo just glared as he snapped at his men and they left without another word. He made up his mind and he was going to get his father involved. When Helmeppo left the tension in the air dissipated.

After the scene settled down a bit, people went back to eating their meal. They started to talk about what was going to happen. Lea turned to Luffy and asked. "So are we going to help him or not?"

Luffy nodded and he made his way out the door without another word. Raven and Lea then followed on after him. Colby looked over to the frightened child and her mother. "Don't worry, we'll protect him and you guys," He said before darting after the group. The little girl nodded as she watched them disappear.

It wasn't long before the four of them were standing in front of Zoro again. He grunts as he started to wake up from his small slumber. "You guys again? Don't you have anything else to do?" He asked in a tired but blunt way.

"I'll untie you, only if you join my crew," Luffy answered.

Lea and Raven both facepalmed at him. "There he goes again, being blunt," Lea muttered to herself as Raven nodded in agreement.

"You're what?" Zoro asked with a deadpan look.

"My pirate crew, I'm looking for people to join me and my two sisters, "Luffy said as he stepped up to him.

"No way, I'll never stoop down to your level of being a criminal. Screw that business," He said before turning his head away.

Luffy placed his hands on his hips. "What's wrong with being a pirate?" He asked.

"They're despicable, that's why I don't want to join them."

"Hey!' Lea stated, "for your information, we are not despicable! Not all marines are good and not all pirates are bad."

Zoro just huffed before Luffy continued, "Come on, give me a break. Everybody thinks that you are a demon and a bounty hunter who is always out for blood."

"People can say whatever they want about me, but I've never done a single thing in my life that I regret," He said with a smirk. "I will make it through this challenge and after that, I'll accomplish what I want." His words made Lea smile a bit, he kept intriguing her.

Luffy then folded his arms, "I already decided that you would be joining us," He said confidently.

"WHAT! You can't do that!" He yelled.

"I heard that you're the best swordsman around,"

"I am, but that idiot's captain's son took mine away," He muttered.

"I guess I just have to get them for you," Luffy said with a smirk.

"What?"

"So if you want them, then you'll have to join my crew," Luffy said with a wide grin.

"NOW YOU'RE REALLY PISSING ME OFF!" Zoro snarled. Without saying another word, Luffy started to run in a direction. Zoro just shook his head before yelling at him. "Hey, idiot the base is in the other direction!"

Luffy screamed something before he launched himself through the gate. He did it by stretching his arms towards the gate and grasped it before he soared by the trio. Zoro's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped a bit from surprise. All the while, the two girls, and Colby just watched casually.

"What the hell is this kid…." Zoro stuttered. The girls then turned to talk to him and explained what Luffy had. Lea then explained to him that she also had a power like his.

"So you're a swordsman, I just so happened to be a blacksmith. My sister can tell you that I can make better blades than most in this sea," Raven said with a bright smile.

"It's true," Lea said as she went and pulled out a blade from one of her boots. She showed him one of her hidden blades. "She made me this set," She said to him.

"Not bad," Zorro said. "This is good craftsmanship,"

Colby had a moment of thought and he went behind Zorro and started to pick at the knots that held him to the wood.

"You're gonna get yourself killed for what you are doing right now," Zoro said to him as he watched him struggle with a knot.

"I can't stand seeing the marines behave like this," He said a bit sadly.

"Unfortunately Colby, there are only a few who don't get like this,' Lea said as she watched.

"Well, a true marine should be honorable," Colby responded to Lea with a hint of an edge to his voice.

"Look, kid, leave! I've got ten days left and then their-"

Colby interrupted him, "Well not quite, they're going to execute you tomorrow," He said simply.

"They'll what….."Zoro whispered.

"Helmeppo was never going to honor your agreement. He was planning to kill you from the start, which made the girls and Luffy very angry. So they hit him,' Colby continued.

Zoro looked forward at the girls with a straight face but his voice revealed his disbelief. "You did?" He asked them. The girls just gave a soft smile and a nod.

"Now the Marines are mad and they are dead set in capturing them. Don't worry I"m not going to ask you to become a pirate though," He said to him.

"Technically, we aren't either, we just follow our captain's lead," Lea said simply.

"So, I would hope you'll help them, you have a lot of strength to offer," Colby said as he got one knot untied and worked on another. "Luffy is the only one besides the girls here who can actually save you from execution. And of course, you're the only one who can save them, from a very similar fate." He explains as he ignores Lea. Zoro just stayed quiet.

A deep voice was heard as the girl's turned to see Captain Morgan and a few marines. Their guns were pointed in their direction. "End of the line!" Captain Morgan shouted.

"Oh great..!" Lea muttered.

"For the crime of treason against me-" He boomed as he held his axe arm over his shoulder. "I'll send you all to die. Instantly," He grumbled. Colby stopped what he was doing and screamed, barely making Zoro flinch.

"Great, what a nutcase," Lea muttered.

"It's a shame that the axe that is that glorious is in a man like him," Raven said as she folded her arms and spat in Morgan's direction. Lea just started to laugh at her sister's comment. The laugh came with a grin.

The Marines loaded their guns as their leader continued his spiel. He gave the girls a nasty look as he spoke, "You've been pulling some interesting moves around here. What is this? A terribly thought up coup that you formed with the straw hat?" He asked in a mock tone.

"What did that idiot brother do now," Lea sighed. She loved her brother like any other sibling but he tended to get caught up in things.

"I've always fought alone like a real man does," Zoro said simply. "Not like a coward who hides behind his expendable cronies."

"Roronoa Zoro, don't you dare underestimate me. You may be a strong fighter, but under my authority, you're just a rat," Morgan said coldly. He ignored the remarks that Colby tried to say to him before a round of bullets were fired.

At the last minute, Luffy had shielded them all with his body. This panicked Colby. "Luffy!" He cried.

"Calm down, he's fine," Lea said before Luffy showed Colby that he was fine by grinning big.

His attention then went to the shocked faces around him. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm going to be King of the Pirates!" He told them.

Lea then went and stood by his side, "And I'm Alandai D. Lea, and I'm seeking freedom."

Raven smirked and folded her arms. "I'm their trusty blacksmith, Swarz Raven,"

Zoro just muttered, "So you want to be King of the Pirates. You must be completely out of your rubbery mind. Do you have any idea what that means?"

"King of the Pirates means King of the Pirates. How could it mean anything other than that/" He asked as he turned to look at the green haired man.

Colby then grinned. "Yeah, it may sound shocking at first, but it's true. He's completely serious.," He said to him.

"Of course he's serious, he says what he means and means what he says," Lea told them.

Luffy just grins and holds out his hands that held Zoro's three swords. Lea grinned as she studied and admired his weapons. "Here's what I promised you. I couldn't tell which one was yours so I took all of them," Luffy said.

"All of them belong to me, I use the three-sword method," Zoro says.

Raven then took them to study them. She admired the white one and looks at it keenly. "This is a great sword, well crafted," She said before looking at the other swords before frowning. "These are ok, but I could do better," she said.

"Just take em already, just know that when you do, you'll be a government defying villain. So it's either you join or be killed by the Marines execution style," Luffy said simply while showing a smile.

"What are you? Son of the devil?" Zoro asked with a smirk. The girls broke down laughing which ticked off Morgan and his crew. "It doesn't matter, because if I don't choose your side, I would be dead on these sticks. So let's do it," He stated.

Luffy grinned and burst out laughing, "You'll finally join my crew!" It was then that Lea had calmed down before hitting Luffy in the back of the head with a bit of power that she wasn't aware of, "OW!" Luffy muttered and looked at his sister.

"Try not to blackmail to recruit new crewmates, and you forgot that we were in a bit of a situation at the moment," She said before going to Zoro and cut the ropes with the knife that she had in her hand.

Morgan was talking to his crew when a member asked what Luffy was. "Straw hat is no ordinary human being, he must've eaten one of those devil fruits. Those are the ones that we heard rumors about." He then narrowed his eyes and snarled, "It doesn't matter what abilities they have, whoever opposes me will die."

As Morgan ordered his men to charge, Zoro had gotten free and took his swords from Raven with a nod. With a swift clang, Zoro had backed half of the men, while Lea took the other as she made two more arms grow from her own arms. In each of the six hands were her daggers. "Make one move and you die," Zoro said to the officers. Lea burst into laughter as she heard his comment. The faces of the Marines were morphed into fear of the demon and the insane demoness. "This day I officially become a pirate, but I want you to know one thing, while I"m with you I'm only dedicating myself to my ambition," Zoro stated as he stood his ground.

"Which is?" Luffy asked.

"To be nothing less than the world's greatest swordsman," He stated simply.

"So he's going after Mihawk," Lea muttered to herself.

"And if I have to give this up along the way, then I'll hold you responsible and kill you," Zoro continued.

"The world's greatest swordsman sounds pretty good. The King of the Pirates wouldn't have anything less than the best on his crew,' Luffy stated with a broad grin.

"Plus, Lea and I would still be protecting him even then, 'Raven said in a subtle threat. Zoro just smirked.

"Big talkers, from this moment on, criminal or not, I'll spread the name of Zoro throughout the world," Zoro said quite boldly.

"What are you standing frozen for! I want you to kill all five of them!" Morgan barked.

The men began to quake as Luffy started to wind his leg back, "You might want to duck!" He said Lea and Zoro.

"Uh oh," Lea said before the two ducked in time as he swept his leg around, kicking all the marines to the side.

"So he's a rubber man, but then what is she?" A marine asked with wide eyes.

Standing up, Lea put her extra four arms away along with the knives. The men flinched seeing it happened. "I'm a shapeshifter, I ate the Shape Shape fruit." She stated.

"So we have two devil fruit users," said another marine and a few others quaked from the scene in front of them.

"Captain, we don't stand a chance against them," Squeaked another marine that was standing by Morgan's side.

"Yeah, just look at them, they are insane," Cried another.

"Yeah, we couldn't even hold back Zoro!" Said another man.

Morgan then turned dark and muttered, "This is a direct order, every Marine that just uttered weakness, pull your gun out and shoot yourself. I can't do anything with weak soldiers." He then raised his axe hand it sent shivers down his crew's spines.

Zoro just smirked, "What babies," He said as he raised his blades again. "This'll be easy."

"Let me help," Lea said as she pulled out two daggers and got into a position to fight. Before the two could do anything Luffy rushed by as Colby called out his name. Lea blinked before sighing, "I really should've seen this coming."

"BRING THOSE MARINES TO THEIR KNEES!" Shouted Colby, Raven just turned to him with a raised brow but Lea couldn't help but laugh.

Luffy kept Colby's words in his mind as he ran past the Marines and towards Morgan where he jumped and wheeled his hand back before trying to punch him. Morgan was quick for being so large and he blocked his attack with his axe. As Luffy jumps back, Morgan pulls off his coat and mutters, "You low lives, you have no rights to defy my superiority. I am Marine Captain Axe-hand Morgan!"

"And I'm Luffy, nice to meet you," He said before blocking a swing from Morgan. He had jumped again before plowing his feet into the corrupted captain's face, sending him to the ground. The captain skidded a bit before he caught himself.

"You runt!" Morgan snarled as Luffy charged at him again. He held his arm up, his hand holding the implanted axe handle. "Now die!" He roared and flung his axe down and it hit the ground hard causing cracks to form. Luffy had spun away at the last second.

"I don't think so!" Luffy yelled before he spin-kicked MOrgan in the jaw. When Morgan was on the ground, Luffy held him by the shirt and raised his arm back. "You call yourself a marine, but you destroyed my friend's Colby's dream!" He snarled before punching him again.

Back by Colby and Raven, Helmeppo had grabbed Raven and started to try and get Luffy's attention. "Stop right there! Look at what I got!" Luffy just ignored him as he continued to punch Morgan.

"Are you stupid or something!?" Helmeppo asked as he held two pistols up. One was at Colby and the other was at Raven. "I said stop!" He repeated, "If you paid attention to me, you'll find the hostages I have!" Lea just burst out in laughter again seeing his failed attempt at taking a hostage. "Why are you laughing!" He muttered to Lea.

"You literally think you could hold her hostage?" Lea asked in a laugh.

"Apparently he does," Raven said through her stone-faced look before she quickly pulled out a small blacksmith hammer from her hip and swung it at his face. Helmeppo then reeled back as he placed his hands on his face in pain. Raven just glared at him. She then took Colby away from the sad-sack of a man. The two came to the side of Lea and Zoro.

Luffy had looked over to make sure they were ok, and when he turned his attention to them, Morgan stood up behind him. Luffy didn't notice but Zoro and Lea did.

"Time's up, for I am fearless Captain Axe-hand Morgan!" He screamed as he held his axe up. Before the axe could cut through the hat, Zoro had ran up and cut Morgan enough to knock him out. As he did so, Lea had gone and destroyed his precious axe with her knife skills.

As Morgan lay on the ground unconscious, the marine officers talked amongst themselves about his defeat.

"If there is anyone else who wants to step forward to fight us, then do it now," Zoro said bluntly.

The silence then broke when the marines started to cheer for their new found freedom. "That's weird, looks like they are all happy to see their captain's defeat," Luffy said to his small crew.

Colby then gets very energetic and ran towards them. "They must have been scared of him for a very long time," He said.

Zoro started to fall backward but Lea was able to catch him before he hit the ground.

"Zoro, are you ok?" Colby asked in a panic voice. "What's wrong?"

"Just. Hungry,' Zoro groaned. This set Lea into a fit of giggles. Luffy nodded as he motioned for his crew to come with him and away from the fallen man. He had led them to the restaurant that the little girl's mother owned.

After an hour or two eating, Zoro proclaimed that he was stuffed. He patted his stomach and everybody chuckled. Lea was subtly blushing as she gazed upon Zoro. She thought he was very handsome. Raven was at the bar with Colby.

Luffy was sitting across from Zoro and he was still eating when he said, "I can't believe that you are done, you lightweight."

"How can you have a bigger appetite than a guy who hadn't eaten in weeks?" Zoro asked with an amused look.

"It's the Devil Fruit that causes it, plus he eats like gramps," Lea explained. Zoro just quirked an eyebrow when she mentioned their grandfather.

Raven then added, "He eats like a horse," Zoro just chuckled.

"Thanks for the food," Colby said to the owner of the restaurant.

"It's no problem. After all, you guys did save the town, and my Rika," She said as she kissed her daughter's forehead. Rika just smiled happily. Rika then squirmed out of her seat before rushing over to Luffy.

"You're the greatest man I ever met!" Rika said happily as she gave Luffy a hug.

"Awwww, she's so cute!" Lea and Raven cooed.

Luffy started to talk with his mouth full but Lea covered it with her hand. "No talking with your mouth full," She scolded him with a frown.

Luffy just nodded and patted Rika's hair a bit in thanks. He then swallowed as Zoro asked him, "So, how many are on this crew so far?"

"You, me and my two sisters so far," Luffy said simply.

Zoro's eyes widened in shock. "Just…" He said as he pointed everyone out. After that, they started to argue about the number of his crewmates. He calmed down a bit before he asked about the ship. Luffy then stood up and pointed out the window towards the small boat that sat alone in the harbor. Zoro just sighed, "You got to be kidding…."

"Nope,' Luffy said joyfully. "We'll have an enormous one before long!"

"How did I get suckered into having him as my captain," Zoro muttered as he held his head.

"He isn't bad all the time," Lea said as she came over and rubbed his back to comfort him.

"Where are you going after you leave here?" Rika asked curiously.

"We're headed straight for the Grand Line," Luffy answered with a grin.

Colby did a spit-take with his orange juice. "No! Have you completely lost your mind? There's no way!. You have four crew members. There's no way you can get there with that low of members!"

"Paradise isn't all that bad," Lea commented as everyone turned to her.

"What do you mean by that?" Colby asked.

"I was born there and lived there the first few years of my life," Lea said as she took a sip of her own drink. There were a few people who looked at her in disbelief. Raven and Luffy weren't one of them.

"Well, we're going there anyway,' Luffy decided. Colby then went to him and continued to try and talk him out of it.

As Colby was distracted, Raven started to talk to Zoro on Colby's dream. When he heard it, he started to explain why it would be hard to achieve it. It wasn't a moment later when the Marines came through the doorway.

"We heard that you guys are actually pirates. Is this rumor true?" The Lieutenant asked.

"Yeah and I just added my first mate to the crew," Luffy said with a grin.

The man then clears his throat before he continued to speak, "We appreciate everything that you did to save our town from our horrible tyrant. However, now that we know that you are pirates, as Marines, we can not sit idly by and watch you go about your business. Therefore, you and your crew need to leave this town. Immediately," He said though he could tell it kind of hurt him to say it.

The townspeople started to get riled up and a few were yelling at the men. A few were getting into the men's faces. Lea then stood up from the table and everyone went quiet as they listened to what she had to say. She just simply asked, "May I use a Den Den Mushi before we leave. Please?"

The Lieutenant sighed but nodded, "Fine," He said. Then he motioned for another officer to grab the snail. It wasn't long before she had it and she started to dial.

There were a few seconds of silence before a harsh voice was heard, "Vice-Admiral Garp speaking….Who is this!" Everyone was shocked that this pirate was calling a Vice-Admiral.

"Hey Gramps, it's Lea," She said simply and that got people to drop their jaws. Raven and Luffy knew that their grandfather was Garp and it was quite funny to see all the reactions this phone call made.

The snail's face then changed to one of delight as Garp spoke again, "How are you, my lovely granddaughter?" He asked.

"I'm fine, Raven and Luffy are here with me in ShellTown. We mete a corrupt Marine captain and I was wondering if you could come handle it," she asked. "I also found two people who would benefit from your teaching," She said after a moment of silence.

"Two….?" Colby muttered in confusion.

"I will take care of it. By the way, have you three decided to join the Marines yet?" Garp asked.

At this point, Luffy went over and took the snail from Lea and answered him, "No Gramps, we are pirates and I am going to be King of the Pirates."

"You BRAT! Wait till I get a hold of you. Then you will get the Fist-of-Love!" Garp said sternly.

"Bye Gramps," Luffy said simply as he hung up. He then turned to Lea. "So who is this other person Gramps needs to teach?" He asked.

"Helmeppo, who else?" Lea said.

"WHY?!" Colby exclaimed.

"One, because he is redeemable. Two, he needs to learn how to treat people and get through life. And three, everyone deserves a second chance. There is also the fact that he is a wimp," Lea explained.

"Let's go. We have things to do," Raven said as she made her way to the door. Lea, Luffy, and Zoro following behind.

When they made it to the boat they set off trying to figure out where they were to go next. Luffy heard something coming from the dock and saw Colby yelling goodbye as he and the rest of the marines saluted.

"Well that's something you don't see every day," Zoro said with amusement.

Luffy then suddenly threw his arms in the air and yelled, "Next stop! The Grand Line!"


	3. Straw Hat Memories

The small boat was sailing listlessly as Luffy hung over the side of the boat and groaned, "I'M HUNGGGGGRRRYYYY!"

"When the hell are we going to reach land anyway?" Zoro asked as he leaned on the other side of the ship.

Raven just sighed, "No clue, sadly none of us are navigators, so we aimlessly wander the blue," She was polishing her favorite hammer, Lucy. The large hammer glinted in the sunlight.

"As my sister said, don't know maybe we'll reach it someday," Luffy said carelessly.

Zoro just gave him an annoyed look. "Don't you find it dumb! That someone who proclaims to want to be the King of the Pirates doesn't have anyone who can do navigation!" He said bluntly.

"Not really, I just drift around," Luffy said before turning to look at Zoro. "How about you? Aren't you some famous bounty hunter who sailed the seas?"

"I don't have any recollection of calling myself a bounty hunter," Zoro said before leaning his head back. "I sailed out onto the open sea to go after one man and I couldn't get back to my own village. By that point, I had no choice to go after pirate ships and make a living."

"It's easy, you're just lost," Luffy said which got Zoro angry and he started to rock the boat.

The sudden rock of the boat woke up Lea as she had rolled over and accidentally hit Raven in the face with the back of her hand. "OW!" Yelped Raven in annoyance.

Lea winced apologetically before glaring at Zoro, "Zoro, watch what you are doing!" She said annoyed.

The boat was still rocking as Zoro ignored for a second as he kept trying to get to Luffy but the rocking of the boat made Luffy lunge forward and it resulted in his hat coming off.

Luffy then started to freak out as he tried to grab the hat before it touched the water. Lea quickly followed in suit and tried to climb the mast to grab it but it was just out of her reach."Not my Shanks hat…" Luffy said in a distant voice as he watched it move farther away. A flashback hit him hard.

" _This hat means more to me than anything you could ever know, I can't even give my hat to you or Lea," Echoed a voice._

 _Ten years ago, a little black-haired boy was running towards Partys Bar where Makino was outside sweeping. The boy was crying as he tugged on the young lady's skirt._

" _Makino! I don't want to do any more training with grandpa," He sobs to her as the tears ran over his small bruises on his face._

" _Luffy...what?-" Makino was about to ask more when she heard the booming laugh of his grandfather._

" _Makino, hide me!" Luffy begged._

 _A young girl with black hair opened the door from the inside, "Makino, the bar is all clean- Luffy?" She asked._

" _Raven, please hide Luffy and tend to his wounds," Makino replied quickly as she ushered the two kids into the bar._

 _Raven's face was now serious as she gently grabbed Luffy's hand and dragged him behind the bar. When she got there she took the small med kit that was underneath it as well and started to tend to his bruises when Garp burst through the door._

" _Is he here?" He asked Makino._

" _Training hard Garp?" Makino asked politely as she masked the small squeak of fear coming from the boy behind the bar._

" _That brat…" Garp sighed roughly, "I never had this problem with Ace,' He said before he pulled out a chair and sat in it. He soon took out a pack of rice crackers and started to chomp on one._

" _What is it now," Makino asked with a faux smile._

" _Makino," Garp grunted, "Did Luffy come here, I go to the trouble of gathering all those balloons and he insists on running and hiding from training."_

" _Balloons for what?" Makino asked a bit curious._

" _Flight training," Garp said simply. "I'm trying to figure out what else to do since he's a horrible swimmer."_

" _I CAN TOO SWIM!" Luffy said loudly in defiance before clamping his hands over his mouth._

" _Luffy!" Raven hissed through her teeth._

" _AHA!" Garp called out before he got up to head to the bar as he leaned over to grab the boy. Luffy escaped by a hair and made his way over to cower behind Makino. Instead of Luffy, he grabbed the nine-year-old girl instead._

" _Hey!" Raven said as she tried to get out of his grasp._

" _Oh, wrong kid," He said before putting her down quite roughly before turning to look at his grandson._

" _No! He's going to kill me, I don't wanna die!" Luffy said from behind Makino._

" _Luffy get back here!" Garp yelled at him as he started to crack his massive knuckles, a sadistic smile on his face. The sound scared Raven and she went and stood beside Makino as well._

 _Makino then held up her hands and cried out, "Garp! Didn't you say that you had to go somewhere today, apparently Marine Headquarters need you back for a very important job," she said._

" _I do, but Luffy spent all day running from his training," Garp barked, "It's lucky that we even got ANY training done this week."_

" _What did you make him do this time?" Makino asked as Luffy didn't dare come out from behind her. Raven just made sure that she was standing in front of Luffy._

" _He left me down a giant hole for two days," Luffy whimpered._

" _So how have things been here?" Garp asked now addressing Makino, he ignored Luffy's small comment._

" _Quiet and peaceful as always," Makino smiled," Though, I can't help but think that's because your ship is docked at the harbor."_

" _I'll be heading to HQ tonight," Garp said as Makino looked up. "So I'll be leaving this troublemaker with you again,"_

 _Makino smiled at him and nodded, "That's great, you know how much I love having Luffy visit," She said as she turned to look at Luffy and smiled. Her fingers then whisked over his black hair before she glanced back at Garp. "Do you know when you'll be back?"_

" _Don't know yet," Garp answered as he finished off his rice crackers. "But don't worry, this village is so small, no real pirate will stop here again. The last ones who were dumb enough to come by were complete weaklings," Garp said before erupting into his boisterous laugh._

" _Well, please hurry back anyway," Makino said happily though her facial expression clearly stated otherwise. "Oh and please let us know beforehand so that we can gather enough crackers to cover your next stay," she added as Garp tilted the bag towards his mouth to finish it off._

 _Garp laughed even harder as he waved goodbye. He soon closed the door as he exited, the light of the setting sun streaming through the windows. Makino then turned to fully look at the two kids and asked Luffy, "He's getting pretty harsh in his training isn't he?" She then looked at his wrapped hands. "But you'll be staying with me for a while,"_

" _I can lead him to the guest bedroom Makino, he can have the bedroom next to mine," Raven said._

 _Makino smiled and nodded, "Please do Raven," She said as she went to tend other people that came into the bar._

 _Raven nodded and gently grasped Luffy's hand as she started to lead him upstairs and to the one spare bedroom beside her own. "Here Luffy, you can stay in this one. I'm right next door," She said as she opened the door to the bedroom. Luffy nodded as he went in before he curled up on the bed. Before Raven could say anything, Luffy was starting to fall asleep. She gave a soft smile before turning to the open window where she heard a man scream._

" _Pirates at the Dock!"_

 _The next day Luffy woke up and looked out the window as he heard voices. It was then that he saw Shanks ship and eagerly got up and rushed out of bed. He made a beeline to Raven's room and hits the door as he tried to wake her up. "Raven!"_

 _It took a few minutes before Raven sleepily opened the door. She wiped her eyes and mumbled, "Luffy…...what is it?"_

" _I..it's a Pirate Ship!" Luffy said excitedly. Raven just shakes her head, knowing all too well of his excitement over the idea._

" _I'll meet you down there," She mumbled before closing the door to get dressed. Luffy lets her be as he ran down the stairs and slams open the door to the bar._

" _MAKINO! DID YOU SEE IT! THERE'S A PIRATE SHIP AT THE PORT!" He hollered to his friend. As he waited for an answer, he took this time to look around the room. There he saw many men passed out. Most from too many drinks. It was then that he realized that they must all be pirates._

 _Makino looked up from her spot at the bar and smiled brightly at him. "Yes Luffy, I know," Makino said still beaming happily though her smile seemed to be a little forced as she side glanced at the sleeping men. "They came here after coming to port. They've been here all night drinking, I'm surprised that either of you could sleep through it all."_

" _I slept through it all?" Raven asked as she finally appeared._

 _Makino chuckled at Raven though leaned over to pat Luffy's head._

 _A red-haired man then leaned over and asked in a slightly slurred voice, "Who're the kids? Your little siblings?" He asked Makino. The man had a sleepy smile on his face as he looked at the two. His three lined scar was the most pronoun feature on his face._

 _Makino smiled and said, "Sadly no, I look after Luffy when his grandfather is gone, and Raven here lives with her father in my inn.," She explained._

 _Luffy just looked at him as he asked, "Where you come from old man?" The men who were not asleep burst out into laughter._

" _OLD MAN! I'm not even in my thirties yet, you brat!" Shanks said a bit annoyed._

" _Compared to him, you are old Captain," Said a fat man as he took a bite out of the meat on his dagger as he fell off his chair in laughter._

" _Who asked you!" Shanks demanded._

 _Makino then gently took Luffy and led him to the other side of the bar and sat him down on the stool. "Now, now Luffy, don't anger the customers,"_

" _It's alright Makino," Shanks said as he waved off his tipsy crew. "Believe me, it doesn't take much to get these idiots laughing,"_

" _Who the hell are you?" Luffy asked as he looked at him. "Where did all these people come from?" He asked Makino in great interest._

 _Shanks had gone back to his food as he started to chow down, "The name's Shanks and I'm a pirate."_

 _Luffy's eyes lit up like stars in excitement, "Did you say that you are a pirate? As in you guys aren't Marines? Does that mean you go on adventures? TELL ME!" Luffy begged._

 _Raven just shook her head as she turned to look at the door as someone else came into the bar. A girl with flaming red hair walked in, she looked to be the same age as Raven. "Morning everyone," said the new girl as she made her way over to Shanks. She goes and sits on the stool next to the pirate._

 _Luffy just watched with wide eyes. "Who is she?" He asked._

" _This is my niece," Shanks said as he pointed to the girl. Lea, the girl, raised her hand in acknowledgment._

" _My name is Alandai D. Lea, nice to meet you," The girl said happily as she quickly grabbed Shanks' hat and placed it on her head._

" _Oi," Shanks remarked in mock anger. "What have I said about my hat?"_

" _That it is your treasure and that it should be handled with respect?" Lea asked. "I don't see the problem with me wearing it," She said to her uncle in a teasing way._

 _Raven just comes to stand beside Lea and asked. "So you're a pirate too?"_

" _Not officially, Uncle Shanks doesn't me to be one until I'm seventeen," Lea said as she looked at the black haired girl. "So what are your names?" She asked Raven and Luffy._

" _I'm Raven, and that little monkey over there is Luffy," Raven remarked._

" _Hey!" Luffy called as the two girls burst in laughter._

 _A few months later, Shanks' crew was back at the bar again. Luffy was sitting at the bar with Shanks as he drank some Sake. Raven and Lea were walking into the room when they headed towards the two._

" _Hey, Shanks you got to take me on an adventure sometime!" Luffy said as he looked at him. "I wanna be a pirate like you!"_

 _Shanks had turned to look at the small boy as Lea came and laid on his shoulder to watch the two's conversation. Raven just stood beside the man. Shanks started to laugh, "Right, as if you can become a pirate."_

" _Why couldn't I?" Luffy asked._

 _Beckham who was sitting nearby chuckled as Yassop was leaning on his chair next to Lucky Roo. "You may be a good swimmer, but that doesn't mean that you'll be a good pirate," Yassop said as Lucky Roo ate his ham._

" _But I'm a good fighter! My fists are like two pistols!" Luffy countered as he started to punch the air._

" _Well, are they now?" Asked Shanks as he continued to eat his meal._

" _What does that suppose to mean?!" Luffy asked as he looked at Shanks angrily._

" _Hehe, he means that you are too much like a kid, kid," laughed Lucky Roo._

 _Yassop then nodded in agreement. "He's right,"_

" _I'm not a kid! I'm a grown up!" Luffy said as he punched the bar. "Besides Lea goes with you guys,"_

" _Luffy, I pretty much live with them, I have nowhere else to go. I'm not even a pirate yet," Lea said as she folded her arms._

" _Here, have some juice and calm down," Shanks said as he slid over a glass of orange juice to the boy._

" _Wow! Thanks, Shanks!" Luffy said as he gently took the glass from the bar and started to drink it._

" _I don't know what pirate drinks juice," Shanks said as he started to slap the bar as he laughed, Luffy started to yell at him in annoyance. Lea then slapped Shanks in the back of the head to calm him down._

" _Seriously Uncle?" She sighed._

" _Stop laughing!" Luffy screamed to the crew._

 _Makino was cleaning some glasses behind the counter and smiled at the boy when she quickly looked over as a man broken the swinging door off its hinges. It fell to the ground and slid away. The sudden smack made Raven jolt in her spot._

" _Excuse us," Came another voice, as he and his gang walked in. "So these are what passes as pirates in these parts," The man said as he stepped on the door as he made his way to the bar. "It's pretty sad to me,"_

 _Shanks was still eating as the leader came to stand next to him, as Lea and Raven moved over to Luffy._

" _Hello gentleman, how can I help you?" Makino asked as she stood in front of the newcomer._

" _We are mountain bandits, but we didn't come here to tear your place apart. All we want is some sake, and I say ten barrels should do," The man said as his gang was smirking from behind. All the while Shanks kept eating._

" _I'm sorry but we are fresh out of sake right now," Makino said._

" _Interesting, it seems like these pirates are still drinking," The man said. "Is that water in their glasses?"_

" _No, that just happens to be the last that I had stocked up," Makino said gently._

 _The man scowled as Shanks spoke up, "My apologies gentleman, Me and my friends drunk the whole place dry. But, you can have this if you want, it hasn't been opened yet," He then hands up a bottle. "Go ahead,"_

 _The leader of the mountain bandit then balled his fist and broke the glass bottle in Shanks's hand. Luffy just watched in shock._

" _I'm wanted, I have an eight million berry on my head, one bottle isn't enough for a nightcap, so don't insult me," He said threatening._

 _Shanks just muttered, "Just great, now the floor is wet. Sorry about that Makino," He said as he bent down to clean the mess up. "You got a rag I clean this up with?" He asked._

" _Oh, don't worry about it, I'll take care of it," Makino said as she went to go get a rag. Meanwhile, the mountain bandit leader pulled out a sword and he destroyed all the dishes on the bar. It made a loud clatter as Shanks quickly ducked out of view to dodge the blade._

" _If you like cleaning up messes, then here you go," The mountain bandit said as he stood over Shanks as he sheathed his sword. "Let's go, guys, this place is not worth our time," He said bluntly as he walked towards the front. Everyone was quiet but Lea was holding back her irritation as she watched the leader go._

 _As the bandits left, Luffy was clenching his glass of juice really tightly as he gritted teeth in anger. It was silent for a few seconds before the whole tavern erupted into laughter. Lea sighed in annoyance before grabbing the hat and a towel that was nearby before starting to clean it off before putting it on her head as she folded her arms. She let a small chuckle before glancing at her friend. Raven just sighed._

 _Makino was bending down to help clean off the drinks that have been spilled on Shanks. She only looked up when Luffy stood on the bar stool and yelled at the lot. "WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING!WHAT'S SO FUNNY? YOU SHOULD'VE FOUGHT BACK SHANKS! IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW STRONG THEY LOOK OR HOW MANY THEY ARE, JUST LAUGH IT UP YOU ARE NOT A MAN OR A PIRATE!"_

" _Luffy, I know how you feel," Shanks said as he lounged slightly upon the bar. "The guy just spilled some booze on me, it's not worth getting bent out of shape."_

" _Besides, the guy was a weakling, there was no point on fighting him," Lea added as she watched the two._

" _Whatever," Luffy huffed before looking at the open chest next to him. He spotted the light purple fruit that had swirling designs all over it. It seemed tempting The two adults on the ground were sharing a moment. The two girls next to them were snickering. Shanks chuckled before snatching back his hat. The four of them then turned to look at Luffy as they heard him chomping away._

" _You shouldn't eat out of frustration," Shanks said._

" _Yeah, it'll give you a stomachache," Raven said as she folded her arms._

" _Shut up!" Luffy said without looking at the man. He just continued to eat the purple fruit._

 _Shanks then went wide-eyed as he saw the fruit he was eating, "Hey wait! You shouldn't eat that! No! You didn't!" He said as he stood up quickly and looked down at him. "Don't tell me you ate the fruit that was in that box!" He said in a worried but angry tone._

 _Lea just facepalmed and shook her head._

 _Shanks quickly took Luffy by the legs as he started to shake him up and down. "Spit it out right now! Every single bit!" He said in a desperate way, though it only made Luffy freak out a bit_

" _What are you doing! Stop shaking me!" Luffy said before his legs stretched and his face hit the floor. Everybody was in silence before his body stretched back to normal and Luffy looked shocked. "What's...going on…." He said slowly before Shanks got in his face._

" _Luffy! You just ate the Gum-Gum Fruit! Part of the group called the Devil Fruits. If you eat them, it takes away your ability to swim!" Shanks said as Makino gasped nearby. "You can't swim for the rest of your life, but that one also turns your body into rubber!"_

" _N0 WAY!" Luffy screams. "IT CAN'T"_

" _YOU DUMBASS!" Shanks replied._

 _Lea just sighed before hitting her uncle in the head. "You can put him down now, Uncle Shanks. It's not all that bad having a Devil Fruit, you know."_

 _Shanks just sighed before putting Luffy down and turning to his niece. "I know Lea, but every Devil Fruit is different, he can't transform as you do. He still has to make sure he's careful. Especially around water," He said as he calmed himself down._

" _Is that how you got your powers? " Luffy asked as he turned to Lea, completely ignoring Shanks for the time being._

" _Yup, that's how I got them. That fruit was disgusting," Lea said as she made a face of disgust._

" _It's supposed to," Shanks said as he folded his arms._

" _I know that!" Lea snarked before explaining herself, "It's not that I knew what it was when it was given to me. "_

 _Raven just listened quietly as Makino gently brought her close to stroke her hair. The two watched the trio. As they got used to the new situation, Raven piped up, "Well, life won't be boring." The small group laughed._

 _A week later Makino was running to the mayor, with Raven and Lea by her side. The tavern was trashed and Luffy was in trouble. Makino burst through the door and begged," Mayor! We need your help!_

 _The older man turned his head to Makino and the two girls before she explained everything. Raven and Lea were both extremely worried before the group of four then burst out the door and towards where Luffy was being beaten up at. As they got to the scene, the bandit was pressing his foot against Luffy's head. Sandwiching it against the well._

" _Hold on! Let the boy go!" The mayor pleaded as Makino grasped her hands over her chest. Raven bit her lip and clenched Lea's hand. Lea was glaring at the bandit and she was clenching her friend's hand back even tighter. "I beg you!" The old man pleaded "I don't attend to fight you for what he's done. If you accept, I will even pay you to stop this!" The man then got onto his knees to show his submission. "Just spare the poor boy's life, PLEASE!" He said as he bowed his head to the ground._

" _Mayor!" Luffy said from underneath the shoe._

" _While the oldest generation knows the ways of the world better than us all, I"m sorry but this rotten kid has already made me angry. Nothing can save him now," The bandit said as he started to unsheathe his sword._

" _You're the rotten ones around here!" Luffy spat at him._

" _And you're a lost cause, so you can forget it, in the next life," He said before raising his sword. Lea quickly let RAven's hand go before darting forward and transforming her arm into a sword and blocking the hit as she slid in front of Luffy._

" _You will not touch my little brother!" Lea spat at him with fire in her eyes._

 _Raven just let out a squeak as she saw Lea's actions. She hid her face in her hands as Makino squeezed her hands tighter and the mayor was crying out disbelief. Raven turns as she hears footsteps behind them and she got ready to run, only to see Shanks and his crew coming up._

" _I was wondering why the bar was so empty on such a fine day," Shanks said casually from behind the trio._

 _Lea just shakes her head as she kept up her blocking. "Really Uncle Shanks?" She said with a sigh._

" _So it's the Mountain Bandits again," Shanks said as Makino looked around and saw the whole crew now by them._

" _Captain Shanks!" Makino said in a slightly swooned like voice._

 _The leader grunts in annoyance as he gazed back at Shanks. "Pirates, now you show up?" He said in a rather blunt and sarcastic tone._

" _They just got back," Lea huffed as she kept her force on his sword._

" _Do you rely on Lea for protection now," Shanks said to Luffy as he ignored the mountain bandit._

" _You aren't helping in this situation Uncle," Lea said as the man pushed harder on her sword arm._

 _Luffy was about say something but he was cut off by the bandit. "I don't know what you think you're doing here, but you should leave if you know what's good for you." A snort was heard from Lea. Raven was hiding behind Makino as she watched._

 _Shanks just started to step forward when a guy with a gun pointed it at his temple. "I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you," The bandit snarked._

 _The man next to shanks muttered, "I'll blow your head off if I have to, but that's up to you my friend." The other bandits around the group smirked and snickered._

 _The bandit leader snickered as Luffy watched in worry. Shanks just looked down a bit. "Would you risk your life?" he said simply and the man holding the gun looked confused. "Now that you've drawn your pistol, would you use it?"_

" _What the hell are you talking about?" The man said._

 _Shanks turned to point to the pistol barrel, "I"m saying, guns aren't for threats, their for actions," He said simply before a gun was fired making Raven jump and squeak in fright. She peeked from around Makino to see that the former gunman was falling to the ground and Shank's crew member Lucky Roo was standing with his pistol drawn. The larger man then took a bite out of his meat. Raven blinked as she watched._

" _You! You are a dead man!" Screamed one of the bandits with a few others shouting their agreement._

" _These guys fight dirty!" Shouted another one._

 _Lea just muttered, "Hypocrites!"_

" _Dirty?" Yassop said as he stood by his captain._

" _Who did you think you were dealing with?" Beckham said as he towered over his crewmates. "We never claim to be saints or anything."_

" _You guys are staring down at a group of pirates," Shanks said_

" _We're going after the boy, not you," Snarled a bandit._

" _Listen up boys, it doesn't' matter whether I'm sprayed with alcohol or doused with food, hell even if I'm spit on, I'll just laugh it off and forget about it. But if you hurt a friend or family member of mine, you'll pay for it regardless of your reason." Shanks said darkly._

 _Luffy was beginning to cry as he whimpered, "Shanks.." Lea had ruffled his head a bit with her free arm._

 _The bandit leader laughed loudly, "So we're gonna pay? Louzy pirates. KILL THEM ALL!" He ordered as his bandits unsheathed their swords and aimed for Shanks's crew._

 _Beckham stepped forward as he took out his rifle. "I'll take care of this, shouldn't be a big deal," He said simply to his captain. He then swung at the oncoming bandits, his rifle like a club. After many grunts and cries of pain, a lonely sword embedded itself next to the bandit leader. His face contorted to that of panic._

" _If you really wanted to fight, you should've had a battleship or something," Beckham said as he pointed his rifle at the leader now. He was the only one left standing out of his group._

 _Luffy and Raven murmured a wow, while Lea giggled._

 _The bandit then snarled as he turned to the pirates. He started to back up a bit. "Hold on, please! It was the kid who attacked us!"_

" _I thought you were a wanted man," Shanks said and it made the bandit leader squirm. "There's also a fact that you pointed a sword at my niece."_

 _The bandit then snarled as he quickly took out a smoke bomb and slammed it onto the ground. A dark plume of smoke then obscured the area. The man quickly grabbed Luffy and Lea as he made his getaway. A small yelp of surprise was voiced by Lea as her arm reverted back to normal._

 _Shanks grimaced as he tried to see through the smoke. Raven gasped and started to cough as she inhaled some of it. "Luffy? Lea?" Shanks as he grabbed his head in worry. Lucky Roo grimaced and snarled a bit. Raven' started to cry as she didn't see her friends anymore. "Oh know! I let the guy take them! What am I going to do!"_

" _Boss calm down, you're freaking out," Lucky Roo said as Beckham grinned at his Captain with a long toothpick in his mouth. "We'll find them in no time."_

" _What a goof," Beckham said with a slight chuckle._

 _Meanwhile out in the bay, the leader of the bandits was holding both Luffy and Lea in the air. His small boat swayed as the waves rocked it. He chuckled darkly, "Looks like I made a clean getaway. They would never think to look for a mountain bandit in the water."_

" _Let go of us you big dumb assed idiot~" Luffy huffed as he was being held by the back of his shirt. Lea was just quiet as she was thinking of a plan. "I really hope you die!" He screamed._

" _Yes, I know that's what you want, but you are the one dying today," The bandit sneered._

" _Over my dead body," Lea huffed under her breath, though the guy didn't hear it. Without another word, the man threw the two into the water. Luffy quietly cursing all the while. His body sinking as Lea had morphed her body so that she could help him. She grabbed him with her arms that were morphed into water, she then brought him up to the surface so that he couldn't flail about or drown. Though she knew she couldn't do this forever and silently hoped that Shanks would get there in time._

" _Sorry kids, I just don't have any use for you two anymore," laughed the bandit as he watched the two struggle. He didn't realize that the water behind him was starting to tower as a Sea King appeared. Lea's eyes went wide as she peered into the giant red eyes who were staring intently at the bandit._

 _Luffy was starting to freak out more and that got the attention the bandit as he turned to see the giant eel-like creature looming over him. After a shriek of terror, the man was swallowed in one bite nothing was left of him or the boat. The two kids treaded water with shock still in their eyes. After a second of silence, the creature then charged at the two. In a split second, Shanks had grabbed the two and pushed them out of the way. Lea then changed back to normal from the small shock that she experienced._

 _Luffy had looked over and whimpered, "Shanks…"_

 _Shanks had ignored him for a second as the Sea King reappeared and stared at them. "Get lost," He said simply but his eyes said murderous. Lea felt some energy from the look. The Sea King then swam away in terror. He then looked at the two, "Makino told me everything, how you stood up for us back there," He said softly. Lea was in his arm as she started to sob. "You put yourself out there for us, you can't cry, you're a man now," He said gently._

" _but Shanks! Your arm! Your arm!" Luffy said as he pointed out the spot where his arm was missing. He was holding onto Lea as she was being held by him._

" _Luffy, it's just an arm, I have another one. I'm just glad that you both are alright," He said gently as he tried to soothe both the girl and boy in his arm._

 _A few days later Shanks had healed and his men were packing up their boat with supplies to leave. Makino and the mayor were standing near the docks to watch them pack._

 _Luffy was talking to Shanks at the top of the docks. "So you're leaving?" Luffy asked sadly. He turned to look at Lea and Raven nearby._

" _Yeah this was just an extended vacation, I have to go now, but don't worry you won't be alone. You will have Raven and Lea will be joining you," He said before smiling at the boy._

 _Luffy's eyes widened, "She's staying?"_

" _You bet I am!" Lea said before leaning on his shoulder in good nature. "It's pretty much one of the reasons we came to this town, the Marines were getting too nosy," Lea said with a shrug. "Sure I'm not happy that I'm leaving my family but I still gonna keep two members of my family."_

" _Two?" Luffy asked curiously while Shanks just smiled at them all._

" _You and Raven of course!" Lea said and smacked Luffy gently in the back of the head. Luffy just chuckled a bit._

 _Shanks then piped in and said, "I bet you guys would miss me,"_

" _Of course I'm gonna miss you, you big goof, what other uncle do I have?" She asked playfully._

 _Raven ran up and hugged Shanks, "Me too, even though I haven't known you long, I consider you a friend and an Uncle," She said happily with some tears in her eyes._

" _Yeah, but this time it's different," Luffy said as Raven then came to his side as she got a smile and a hug back from Shanks. "I won't beg you to take me with you, because I'm gonna be a pirate all on my own,"_

" _All on your own?" Lea asked with a raised brow. "I don't think so Captain, you aren't gonna go anywhere without me,"_

" _O...or me!" squeaked Raven as she joined in the convo. Luffy laughed as he felt more encouraged by his going to be nakama._

 _Shanks just put out his tongue and said in a teasing way, "Nah, I wouldn't have taken you anyway," He said playfully._

" _Well you sure kept me around for a while," Lea said playfully to her uncle._

" _You'll never make it as a pirate just by yourself, so good thing you have these two." He said_

" _OF COURSE I'LL MAKE IT AS A PIRATE!" Luffy screamed as the rest of Shanks crew stopped to listen. "SOMEDAY I'M GOING TO GATHER A CREW EVEN BETTER THAN YOURS! I'M GONNA FIND THE GREATEST TREASURE IN THE WORLD AND THEN I'M GOING TO BE KING OF THE PIRATES! I'LL SHOW YOU!_

 _Lea just chuckled and muttered under her breath, "That's my brother," she said happily and Raven chuckled._

 _Shanks just chuckled, "You think you're going to surpass us? In that case, I'll leave this hat to you," He said as he plopped his most prized hat onto Luffy's head. "It means more to me than anything in the world, except maybe my family. So you better take care of it, you hear me?" He said and Luffy started to cry. Shanks just chuckled before turning to Lea and taking off his jacket. "Lea, you can take this one as another token to remember me by. It's a little big now but you'll grow into it, take care of it," He said with a smile._

 _Lea quickly took it and puts it on before watching him get up. She nodded her head in thank you. A small tear formed at the corner of her eye but it disappeared just as quickly as it came. Without another word, Shanks waved goodbye and rejoined his crew on his ship. His 'Jolly Roger' flapping in the wind as the ship set sail. The three newly dubbed siblings watched as his ship disappeared over the horizon._

Luffy was sitting down as he stared at his hat after he explained their whole backstory to Zoro

"So you guys aren't actually blood-related?" Zoro asked curiously.

"No, we are not," Raven said, "But from then on we were thicker than blood."

Luffy chuckled before putting the hat back on his head but he was stopped when Lea stopped him, "Uh-uh! You know the deal Luffy," she said before he huffed and placed it on her head. Zoro just rose a brow but didn't say anything. Raven just playfully rolled her eyes.

Zoro just shrugs, "Oh, I'm so hungry! It's killing me!" He said in exasperation.

Luffy just quietly nodded and he saw a bird flying above them and he then smirked as he got an idea. Quickly he grabbed his hat back, "I'm going to get that bird," He said simply.

"Uh oh…" Lea said as she felt it was going to be a bad feeling.

Luffy then stretched his arms so he could grab the mast before flinging himself into the air and in the direction of the bird.

Zoro just gave a weird look before shaking his head as he heard Luffy's pleas of help as he got his head stuck in the beak of the giant bird.

"Not again," Lea huffed before Zoro quickly grabbed the oars and started to paddle like a maniac.

"YOU MORON!" Zoro screamed, "WHAT THE HECK DID YOU THINK YOUR DOING!"

As they tried to follow the bird, they come across three men treading water. They saw their small boat and tried to get their attention.

"I can't believe that we found shipwreckers at a time like this," Zoro said in annoyance.

"Tell me about it," Lea said as she shook her head.

"We can't stop, you just have to jump on," Raven said as she kept her gaze on the bird.

As the small boat sped past the three, they somehow made the jump and got on board.

"I'm surprised that you made it on," Zoro said as he kept rowing.

"Stop this boat right now, we are members of Buggy's crew, this boat is ours now," The man said with a hat that had the jolly roger of his captain on it pointed his sword at the three. The three hostages each gave a death glare to the new pirates.


	4. Circus

"How dare you point such feeble weaponry at a couple of women!" Raven spat in annoyance. She then swiftly pulled out 'Good Ol' Lucy', from behind her back. The metal of the hammer glinted in the bright sunlight. "Now this, this is a weapon," She smirked with a dark grin

Lea was beside Raven. She leaned over to Zoro and whispered,"Let's leave this to her." Zoro nodded in agreement before giving a smirk.

The three pirates who stared at Raven began to flinch. "Now you either row, our boat or you'll have a lil talk with good Ol' Lucy here," Raven said as she showed them the long hammer that was gilded with gold. They began to sweat.

All three gave a squeak as they said, "Yes Ma'am." They each grabbed an oar and started to row. One of the men looked at the three and whimpered," Who are you guys exactly?"

"Lea," Lea said simply with a sharp glare. She spotted one of them already trying to act up.

"Raven," she said sternly as she kept Lucy beside her, giving hints that if they mess up they would get a face full of steel.

"Roronoa Zoro," He said with a small wave of his hand, his steely gaze concentrated on the three as he changed positions to where he was laying down with his head on one hand.

""The pirate hunter!?" The man with the hat asked in shock and fear.

"Yeah…." Zoro said nonchalantly. He gave a yawn of boredom. The other two pirates that were being kept hostage started to shutter.

"Enough chit chat! Row faster!" Raven barked as she shifted her weight onto the handle of Lucy.

"Yeah, you three made us lose sight of our captain, so get rowing," Zoro added to Raven's order.

"Y..yes sir" The orange-haired captive squeaked before the three started to row faster, the sweat going down their faces as their small boat leapt over the small waves.

It was a little while later when the group pulled up to the deck of a small seaport town. They had only just tied their boat to the dock when a giant explosion was heard coming from the town before them. Black smoke rose above the rooftops and the smell of gunpowder lingered.

"That was one heck of an explosion," Zoro said as he went and stood on the dock. He turned to look back at the two girls. "Tie them to the mast," He said simply.

Raven nodded and started to tie the three to the mast, meanwhile giving them a glare and one more look of Lucy before she puts it away. "That explosion looks like it was one of the captain's Buggy Balls," The tanner captive said in thought.

"Buggy Balls?" Zoro asked in amusement, his eyebrow quirked.

"Is he trying to compensate for something?" Lea asked slyly. Raven laughed at her joke as the two started to step out of the boat and stood by Zoro's side. Zoro gave Lea a smirk.

Raven looked over and spotted the large pirate ship, on the sail was the same jolly roger as the one on the hat of one of the captives. "Buggy is definitely here, his ship is docked," she said as she pointed it out "We better head towards the explosion so it doesn't get worse," She offered. Her two comrad's nodded before the three darted into town and leaving the three captives in the dust.

It took the trio a few minutes before they spotted a building that had some figures on the roof. Raven pointed out that they must be on the roof. They soon barged their way into the bar and made their way up to the roof. When they got to the top, they spotted their captain in a giant metal cage. He was surrounded by pirates that were attacking a girl that looked familiar to the sisters.

Zoro decided to take action, he walked up to the girl and blocked the pirates from her. He had in his hands, two of his sheathed swords. 'Hey now, it's not fair to gang up on the poor girl."

"Zoro!" Luffy yelled happily before saying, "Raven! Lea!"

Nami looked up at the green haired man. "You hurt?" Zoro asked her as he looked over at her from over his shoulder. After getting silence, he repeated himself. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine….I think,"Nami replied unsure.

"You're going to need to get your hands checked, a fuse can do some damage to flesh, I should know," Raven said as she placed a hand on her hip. She was leaning on the cage that held Luffy. She had already explained to him what had happened since they were apart.

Nami looked over at the woman who spoke to her and gave her a slight nod.

"Luffy!" Lea said bluntly as she walked over to the cage. "What the heck are we going to do with you?" She scolded, but in her eyes he could see the caring gaze she gave.

"Sorry sis," Luffy said with a slight falter in his smile.

In the distance, Buggy was getting annoyed. He growled when he spotted the party crashers. He was going to say something but stopped when he spotted Lea. The red hair, the black jacket, it sparked some recognition, but he denied it.

"I'm glad you three found us," Luffy said. "Now hurry up and get me out of here!" Luffy said.

"How do you get yourself into these kinds of situations?" Zoro asked without looking back. "First it was the bird, now we find you in a cage?"

Lea sighed, "He does have a knack for it, ever since he was little."

"That's why we are here," Raven said as she walked to the cage and inspected the lock.

"It's an interesting story actually," Luffy said sheepishly.

"Oh really? You can tell us after we get you out of here," Raven said as she started to test out many ways to pick the lock.

"If you can't pick it, I can melt it," Lea said casually as she looked back at the girl.

"I can," Raven said simply before she pulled out another hair pin from her head and started to pick at it more. As she worked on getting her captain out, the rest of Buggy's crew were staring in disbelief at their intruders.

Out from the vast crowd surrounding the five, came a few voices. "Did you hear that brat!? He said that guy was Zoro!"

Buggy had been standing there with his arms crossed for a bit before he finally spoke up. "So you're Zoro?" He asked. Zoro didn't look up to answer him. "If you're here for my head, you've got quite a struggle before you."

"No. Not interested," Zoro said plainly. "I gave up pirate hunting. I'm here for my friend," He said simply, his eyes closed in slight annoyance.

Buggy smirked at this. "Oh? But, I am though," He said. As Zoro looked up, he saw a sick grin on the pirate's face. "Killing you would boost my reputation!" He said with a crazed laugh.

"You try, you die," Zoro said flatly as he kept his eyes on Nami's hands which were blistered.

"Ooooo~ Is that so?" Buggy said as his laughter continued. He started to twirl a saber-looking knife in one hand while holding four others in between the fingers of his other hand.

Zoro let out a sigh before stretching his neck, "I tried to warn him."

Lea looked over to the green haired swordsman and said, "Zoro, don't underestimate him. He may be an idiot, but he has tricks up his sleeve." She had been watching Buggy with a glare. The Clown Pirate scowled at her before returning his gaze to Zoro.

Buggy's crew began to cheer for their captain in the background. The blue haired criminal took his blade and licked it with a smirk. Eagerness was in his eyes. As the chanting continued, Zoro placed one of his swords in his mouth and gets ready to counter. Soon Buggy's orange coat rose up as he darted forward and made a bee-line towards his enemy. Zoro stood his ground and at the last second, he slashed his swords. It took only a few moments before the large crew gasped as they saw Buggy's body separated. Zoro turned to look at the body on the ground. "That wasn't much of a fight," Zoro scoffed. Lea sighed as she saw that he didn't heed her warning. She then pulled out one of her own knives from a hidden sheath.

"Oh wow, he's weak! Way to go Zoro!" Luffy called.

"Be quiet! Didn't you hear Lea's warning?" Raven asked him with a mutter before continuing on trying to crack the difficult lock.

"No way!" Nami said in disbelief.

As Nami's exclamation began to settle, a slow roar of ominous laughing starts to break out among the crew of the fallen pirate. It sent chills up Raven's back.

"Hey...why are they laughing?" Luffy asked his sisters in confusion.

"I think I know," Lea muttered as she shook her head.

"Their captain is lying dead on the ground and yet they are still laughing?" Nami said to herself before asking, "What's going on?"

Zoro cleared his throat before asking, "Fella's, what do you find so funny?" Zoro asked. He didn't know that Buggy was starting to stand up. It wasn't a moment later when he felt pain on his left side. He looked over to see that a knife had made a good sized flesh wound. He placed a hand on the wound as he winces.

"Zoro!" Luffy yelled.

Nami went wide eyed as she muttered, "Buggy's still alive…" She saw that his arm was detached and the hand was holding the bloody knife. She narrows her eyes as she spotted that the arm had an extra knife in it. Buggy's seperated arm flew back to him.

"The Chop Chop Fruit. That's the name of the Devil Fruit that has given me my powers," Buggy declared. "I'm a Chop Chop Person. I can never be defeated by sword!" He said before bursting into a loud laugh. He put the knives that were in his left hand away before pulling out the extra knife from his studies it before saying, "This must have been what made me miss."

"Yeah, and I would like it back now!" Lea demanded as she walked forward.

Buggy's eyes narrowed as the girl demanded her weapon back. "Who are you?" Buggy growled in annoyance as he suddenly felt some irritance by the girl.

"Alandai D. Lea, and you just happened to not only harm on one of my crewmates, but also have my little brother and captain locked in a cage," She growled menacingly.

"I let my guard down, stupid mistake. Really should have listened to Lea," Zoro scolded himself. He then felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Lea standing next to him.

"Let me take him now while you protect the others. Besides, I want to get my knife back," she said to him. Zoro gave her a look of disbelief. The look warranted a response from Lea. "What? It's a good knife. Raven made me the set before we left home."

From behind the two, Luffy spoke up. "Trying to stab him in the back was a cowardly move you big nose!" It suddenly became eerily quiet until Raven and Lea burst out laughing.

"What...did..you...just..say!" Buggy yelled as he threw Lea's knife at Luffy's head. The blade zoomed by Raven's head, cutting a few strands of her hair off. She didn't even acknowledge it until she looked up to see that Luffy was holding the blade in his mouth. He spits it out and it skidded to the edge of the cage.

"When I get out of here, I"m going to kick your ass," Luffy said simply.

Raven took a second to grab the blade and handed it over to Lea after she wiped the blade from dust and saliva. "Here," She said before going back to finish her work.

Lea rolled her eyes at Buggy and muttered,"Not cool."

"Hey you girl! Stop trying to pick the lock, it's useless. Who the hell do you think you are?!" Buggy said with a snarl.

"Raven," She said bluntly, not even bothering to look up from her lock picking.

"Are you sure you just don't want me to melt it? It seems to be taking you a while," Lea called to her.

Raven glared at her before saying, "It's a shoddy lock and it was horribly made. That's why it's harder to pick," she said before concentrating more. Even though she couldn't see her, Lea raised her hands up in peace.

Buggy coughed to interrupt the two girl's chat. "Well, if you're gonna kick my ass then you better get to it," He said before bursting out laughing

Not a moment later, Luffy started to laugh with him. That reaction made Buggy halt for a second. Luffy then muttered, "I refuse to die! Zoro, fight!" He screamed.

Zoro wasn't sure at first, as he blinked in surprise. It took him a few minutes but he finally understood his captain. As Zoro watched Luffy, Buggy jumped up and prepared another attack. "Prepare to die!" Screeched the pirate clown. Zoro turned on a dime and with a wince, he began to fight back. As soon as there was an opening in the fighting, Lea came to help Zoro. She unsheathed the knife that she used earlier and began to fight alongside him. As swords clashed around the trio, Zoro glanced at Lea with a knowing smirk. The girl gave the slightest of nods and she took over the swordfighting as Zoro slipped away and under the cannon. Zoro was biting his lip as he heaved and eventually flipped the cannon over and it was now pointing at Buggy and Lea.

As the fighting was going on behind her, Raven had finally unlocked the cage and freed Luffy, pulling him away from the danger.

"Lea! Now!" Zoro said quickly before turning to look at Nami. "Light it!"

"Huh?" Nami asked in confusion, for she didn't know the plan.

"Do it now!" He ordered as Lea managed to get free and join Zoro by his side.

"Wait! Wait!" Buggy pleaded in fear. "The cannon is still loaded with my special Buggy Ball!"

"That's the point," Raven said as she was standing by Luffy behind the cannon. Nami had the chance to light the fuse and the cannon fired. In a bright flash, the cannonball zoomed out from the opening and towards Buggy. The explosion reached far enough to set fire to Buggy's Jolly Roger.

As everyone was distracted, Zoro picked up Luffy whose feet and hands were still tied. He winced once more as he felt the pain ripple through his side. Nami had looked over at the two and murmured to herself, "Who is this guy..?"

"Hey Luffy, who is this girl?" Zoro panted as they started to run away from the enemy pirate crew.

"Oh, this is Nami, our new navigator," Luffy said confidently.

Lea looked at him, "When was this decided? Now, I'm not judging your decision but shouldn't we talk before letting someone new onto the crew?"

"Yeah," Raven said as she folded her arms.

"I never agreed to that!" Nami said quickly as she looked over at Zoro's wound.

Zoro just shook his head before grunting, "Move." He then started to walk past Nami again. The rest of Luffy's small crew continued to walk behind him. Nami didn't follow them, she turned and walked the other way. It wasn't long before Luffy and his crew stopped in front of a pet store. Zoro collapsed with Luffy now laying on his back. They had been walking for a while. Raven went over to help Luffy up, while Lea went and sat down by Zoro.

"You really can be an idiot sometimes, can't you?" Lea asked in exasperation as she started to address and look at his wound. Zoro grunts before looking up to see a small white dog staring at the four of them. The dog's tongue was hanging out, his fur was all dirty, yet his expression was somewhat protective.

"What's up with this dog?" Zoro asked as he laid on the ground. Luffy turned to look at the dog as Zoro mentioned him and he burst out laughing.

"Doggy!" Luffy said excitedly as Raven cut him free from his ropes. Once freed, he made his way over to the pooch and kneeled down to his level. The dog narrowed his eyes. Seeing how serious the dog looked, he tried to make faces at it, but to no avail, there was no movement. "Hey guys! This dog looks frozen!" Luffy said as he watched Lea help Zoro to lean on the porch and against the pole that held up it's roof. Raven just shook her head.

"I don't give a damn, it could just sit there forever, for all that I care," Zoro said as he gave a yawn.

"I wonder if it's dead," Luffy said in thought as he started to poke the dog on its forehead. It took a second or two before the dog bit Luffy on his hand. Lea and Raven facepalmed as Zoro just gave a look of tired shock. Luffy began to scream before repeatedly saying 'get off' as he tried to shake his hand free from the dog's mouth.

"Luffy! Please stop fooling around and get serious!" Zoro grunts before wincing and grabbing at his wound.

The dog suddenly stops as his arm was released. "Damn dog," Luffy said as he rubbed his hand. Lea and Raven both shake their heads and started to laugh at him. Raven looked around as she heard footsteps, her laughter coming to an end. In the distance, she spotted Nami with a very strange old man. The man had grey hair that was fashioned like a poodle. He was also wearing glasses that was on the edge of his nose and some home-made armor was covering his body. They were mostly made from old barrels.

Zoro looks over at the old man and raised a brow slightly. "Who are you old man?" Zoro asked as he watched him. The comment earned him a light slap in the back of the head by Lea.

"Old man!? Why I am the mayor of this town. My name is Boodle now who are you and why are you bothering Chouchou?" He asked before he spotted Zoro's small wound. "Oh my. I'm assuming you ran into Captain Buggy?" He asked surprised that it wasn't as bad as the wounds usually were. "It could've been worse, if you weren't careful enough."

"It would've been if I hadn't intervened and it wouldn't have happened if someone had listened to me and didn't let his guard down," Lea said as she looked at Zoro somewhat accusingly. Zoro just huffed and rolled his eyes. He muttered something under his breath that Lea didn't hear.

The old man cleared his throat. "Let me dress this man's wound," The man said as helped Zoro to his feet. He then lead him to the adjacent building. He looked back to see Lea watching them. He gave a reassuring nod before closing the door and proceeding to dress the wound. He didn't come back out until a little while later. He came out to address the group on the status of their crewmate. Nami had been leaning on the post where Zoro had been leaning on. Lea was sitting down next to her. She was looking at her blade.

Luffy hadn't moved from where he plopped down in front of the dog when Zoro had been led away. He was staring at Chouchou. The pooch didn't move from his spot in front of the porch. Neither were blinking as they stared at each other. Raven happened to be standing beside Luffy, her eyes were looking around the area they were in. She looked at the details that were on each building that surrounded them. A soft smile was on her lips as she admired the work that had been done. That smile turned into a frown though as she thought of how Buggy was just wrecking it with his Buggy balls.

Luffy finally turned his attention to the mayor when he heard his footsteps. "What happened to Zoro?" Luffy asked him with a raised brow.

"Nothing bad, he's just sleeping. He told me that he didn't want a doctor. He just wanted to sleep it off," The mayor explained with a shrug. Luffy just smirked at this.

Nami interjected the conversation by saying, "So this is Chouchou." She was looking at the dog from her resting spot.

"Why is he just sitting there?" Luffy asked in puzzlement. "He sure is a lazy dog."

"He's guarding the store," The mayor stated.

"Guarding it?" Nami asked rather confused, yet intrigued.

"Yes," He said simply.

Nami blinked before she moved slightly to look up at the store. There she noticed why. "Oh, I get it now. It's a pet food shop."

"Yes. The man who used to run this store was a very close friend of mine," The old man said as he went in and got Chouchou some food. He came out with a nice bowl of pet food before placing it down in front of the dog. He smiled slightly and in thought. "There you go," He said before looking up at the group. "When he passed I assumed the role of taking care of Chouchou."

"He died?" Nami asked with a raised brow.

"Yes, only three months ago," The man explained. "After battling his illness for so long." He remembered his friend dearly

"Don't tell me that he's been waiting for his owner this whole time," Raven said with a shake of her head and a small frown on her lips.

"It seems that way," He replied. The man then sits down on the porch and took out a brown pipe."But I find that hard to believe. Chouchou is a smart dog, he's probably known for awhile now that his owner isn't coming back." He began to smoke as he began to think.

"Then why does he stay at this store?" Nami asked in thought.

Boodle shrugged and said, "I don't know, maybe because he has a connection to it. It's his treasure. He's guarding it with his life. His master left him this shop so that's why he's protecting it. I tried to bring him back to my place once, so he could be out of the elements but he wouldn't take as much as one step away from that spot."

When Chouchou was done his meal, he dropped the bowl at Boodle's feet before going back to his post. It wasn't too long after when they felt the ground tremor and a loud roar was heard. The sound sending shivers down their backs for a bit.

"W..what's that sound?" Nami asked curiously.

The mayor stood up abruptly and started to freak out. "It's him!? It's Beast Tamer Moji, let's get out of here!"

Raven narrowed her eyes before taking out good Ol' Lucy off from her back and held it tightly with both hands. Her stance ready to fight if needed. The old man didn't stay long and he bolted in a direction that was away from the sound. Nami wanted to make sure that he was ok and followed after him without a word. From another direction came a giant lion of unnatural greys came to a stop right before the three.

"I see that Zoro deserted you," Moji laughed from on top of his beast.

"Who the heck are you?" Luffy asked.

"I'm known as the Beast Tamer, Moji, a member of the Buggy Pirates," He said as he yawned boredly.

"You've got some weird hair," Luffy said bluntly as he stared at the two ear-like buns on the top of his head.

"How rude! This is manly hair," Moji snapped as he showed off his looks.

A laugh soon erupted into the silence as Lea started to laugh hysterically at Moji's comment. "Manly? Hair?!" She gasped while ignoring the man on the giant lion.

"That's even weirder," Luffy pointed out bluntly.

"You shouldn't laugh at my unseen skills. There is no beast that I can't bend to my will," Moji said confidently as he slipped off his lion's head to go towards the growling Chouchou. He bent down and held out his hand. "Shake," He ordered.

Chouchou narrowed his eyes and bit Moji's hand. He kept his grip hard for he wasn't going to let go. The beast tamer screamed as he tried to shake the dogg off. When he finally was able to get Chouchou to let go, he muttered, "I'm not interested in killing you but tell me where Roronoa Zoro is before I change my mind."

"No way," Luffy said simply.

Moji snarled, "Richie ATTACK!"

The lion lunged from behind Moji and towards Luffy. Before a paw landed on the skinny boy, Raven had ran up and swung Lucy. The steel hammer hit Ritchie on the side of the head and made him miss. The hit made the giant cat roll over and almost hit another building. "Oh no you don't," Raven muttered as she spun Lucy around before sticking the end into the ground. The lion grunts before standing up and shaking its fur. Getting rid of the sudden dust that collected onto it's fur. Richie growls as he stalked his way over and tries to aim a hit at Raven.

She dodged, but the attack didn't miss completely. Richie hit Luffy instead and he was sent flying and into a house along the way. The building that welcomed his body began to crumble on top of him. Seeing what happened, Raven growled.

"Nice work. What a good boy you are Richie," Moji said in a cooing voice. He then smirked smugly at Raven and Lea. He motioned Richie to come closer. "Now let's go find Zoro so I could strengthen my reputation." The lion didn't move as he still had his gaze upon Raven. A snarl appearing at the large cat's mouth.

"What's wrong?" Moji asked before he understood what was going on as he traced his gaze to the girl's. "Oh, I see. Kill her and when you can, get some food," he ordered.

Raven rolled her eyes as Richie growled. The lion started to make his way over to her. Raven took Lucy up at arms again and waited to use her. Moji laughed at the poor defensive stance she took. "No way, this little brat thinks she can hurt my beast!?" Moji laughed.

The blacksmith had a few tricks up her sleeve. She pushed a button on the handle of her hammer and long golden spikes grew out from the flat faces of the hammer. The hammer now had a look of meat tenderizer. The second the lion got to close, she launched herself up and swung hard. Richie gave off a loud yelp as he was hit and had stumbled backwards and almost into Moji himself. He didn't move for he was stunned for the time being. The stun didn't last long as Raven had to dodge a swipe from Richie. The anger continued to grow in the giant lion's face and she could tell from the look in his eyes. She mis-stepped and got hit with a paw. Before she hit a building, she swung Lucy down and into the ground to stop her. Raven winced as the sudden stop made her arm pop out of its socket. Lea ran forward to distract the lion with Chouchou coming forward as well. As Raven was in the process of popping it back in, she looked up in time to see that Richie was now swiping at Chouchou. The dog was barely nicked but the force of the swipe had sent him barreling and out of the way. .

Richie's giant claws had caught on the store's sign that was hanging down and as he tried to get it free, he pulled it off. With the force of the pull, the building began to fall. Lea had been in the path of Richie's paw at that time and was thrown to the side. At that moment, she saw Raven being hit and gasped. In that moment of weakness a stray piece of wood that originated from the now damaged building, hit Lea and knocked her out. As the building started to collapse, Chouchou went into action and started to attack the lion. No matter how hard the dog tried to land a hit, he was thrown every which way. His determination kept him coming back.

"This pest isn't giving up easily, Richie. Knock the little runt out," Moji ordered. The lion finally landed a hit that knocked the poor dog out. Seeing his chance, Moji took out a match and struck it until the flicker of a flame appeared. Through the flame, Moji's eyes held that of pure joy. He flicked it to the now pile of wood and watched as the flames consumed the once proud treasure of Chouchou.

As Moji was busy with the fire, Raven made her way to Lea's side. She held her in her arms as she tried to shake her awake. After a few times, she stopped due to no success. When she looked up, she was spooked. Right beside her was Luffy, she hadn't heard him. As she looked closer at his face, she saw how angry he was for his eyes were shrunken to that of pure rage. His fists were clenched.

Raven looked over to where she last spotted Moji and Richie, she found that they had left the scene. Luffy and Raven looked over when they heard some movement. Chouchou had woken up from his knock out and was now limping his way over to the fire. Luffy walked over as Raven picked up Lea and followed him. The boy with the straw hat bent down and asked the hurt dog, "Chouchou, can you watch over Lea as we take care of that beast?" Chouhou barked in response as Raven placed Lea near Chouchou but away from the fire.

Luffy nodded before looking at Raven, he then motioned for them to go. As they ran off, Raven looked back to the small dog and mouthed a thank you before they were out of sight. It wasn't long before the duo found the two. It wasn't hard when the lion was holding a giant bag of dog food. Moji motioned Richie to stop when he spotted the two. He growled, "I thought I killed you," He said to Luffy before muttering to Raven. "Still alive brat? Not for long, it's the price to pay for hurting my beloved Richie!"

"I'm afraid you can't get rid of us that easily," Luffy said with a smirk.

The beast tamer snarled as he slapped a hand to his knee. "This time stomp them to the ground Richie, grind them into dust!" The giant, silver lion roared as he dropped the bag of food. The lion then arched its back before pouncing. As his creature pounced, Moji had jumped off and was now rolling on the ground. A few scratches were on his face.

"We're not gonna get beaten by a lion,' Raven growled as she grabbed her trusty hammer once more before running up to the beast and hit on the side of its face. As the lion was falling to the side, Luffy had stretched his arms and began to wrap them around each other like a coil. His hands grasped the lion's jaw.

The boy then jumped into the air and snarled," Gum...Gum… HAMMER!" As he touched the ground on the other side of the lion, he had lifted the lion over his head and smacked him down onto the gravel. The pure look of terror and shock had graced the face of the beast's master. Raven couldn't help but laugh.

"What are you!" Moji asked in a stutter.

"Well I ate the Gum Gum fruit…"Luffy said as he looked at the now unconscious lion.

"So that means you have powers like Captain Buggy, but it made you rubber?" Moji asked as he began to quake.

"Yes," Raven said as she leaned on her hammer handle. She raised a brow as Moji gave his answer.

"Sorry! I apologize for attacking. I mean no trouble!" Moji said quickly as he started to wave his hands in defense.

"There's no point in apologizing to me for attacking. Because of you Chouchou, that dog, will never get his treasure back. And because you did that, I'm going to kick your ass," Luffy said with his eyes dark.

Moji bit his lip and started to back up. He began to twitch as Luffy got up and stretched his arm. Luffy soon grabbed and pulled Moji to him. His hand holding him in a choke hold. The beast tamer was then punched to the ground. As Luffy was beating Moji, Nami had stumbled upon the burning building and the unconscious Lea.

The orange haired girl watched Chouchou as he gazed to the now burnt and damaged treasure. "All pirates are the same. Cold, heartless bastards. They destroy everything you hold dear without a second thought," She muttered to herself before turning. She watched the two for a few more minutes before hearing footsteps. She turned and saw Raven and Luffy coming back from whaling on the enemy. "Oh, you're back pirates? For sure I thought the lion would take your heads off. I wish he had because then there will be less pirates in the world. Maybe I should kill you both right now before you can make a bigger crew!" Nami then darted towards them.

Suddenly Boodle came out from beside a building and stood in between Nami and Raven. Raven had rolled her eyes, she could have easily taken her down without any help. "Calm down!" Boodle said. "There is no need for any more violence."

"As if you can ever kill us," Luffy said simply before walking over to Chouchou and placed the retrieved bag of pet food in front of him.

"Well, lety's try it and see!" Nami shouts at him as she ignored Boodle who continued to try and calm her down.

Luffy ignored her as he then sat down next to Chouchou. Nami and Boodle both went silent as they watched Luffy closely. Luffy let out a sigh before saying, "Sorry, that's all I could save. The bastard lion ate the rest of it. You fought well, even though I didn't see you defend it, I know you put all your heart into that battle."

Raven piped up, "Lea and I did though," She said quickly before Luffy nodded. The dog looked at the now empty bag and started to walk off with it. After a few steps, he dropped the bag. He turned around to look at Luffy before barking at him.

"Oh, thanks! Good luck to you too!" Luffy said with a laugh. "Thanks for watching my sister!" After hearing Luffy's response, Chouchou barks once more before picking up the bag and walking off.

After a few minutes of silence, Nami walked over to Luffy and Raven. She bit her lip and sighed, "Sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to yell...or threaten…"

"It's ok you've been under a lot of stress," Luffy said with a smile," and you won't be the last one to threaten a pirate," He said with a cheeky grin.

`"And you obviously had a bad experience with pirates," Raven commented as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Luffy finally got up and dusted off the dirt from his clothes. "So no need to apologize,"

"I'm pathetic," Boodle stated mostly to himself but it was loud enough for the others to hear. "While Chouchou and you young ones fought so hard. I, the mayor, have done nothing but watch our town be obliterated by Buggy and his despicable crew." Nami, Luffy and Raven came to stand in front of Boodle

"Calm down, it's not that bad," Nami said as she tried to reason with the mayor.

"I'm sure you got most of your townsfolk out in time," Raven tried to reassure him.

"Forty years ago, this town was nothing but barren, rugged land. We all worked together to create fields for our crops. We opened stores, and built everything from the ground up. This town is a treasure to me and to all its citizens. From here on out, I refuse to let Buggy and his crew terrorize us anymore!" Mayor Boodle had proclaimed to them his plans, he tried to ignore them for the time being. Right after Boodle's little rant, a Buggy Ball had blown up a row of homes that were next to them. One of the homes that were included in the blast was the one that held the sleeping Zoro.

"That one had Zoro!" Raven said with wide eyes as the pieces of splintered wood started to rain to the ground.

"I"m sure he's dead now," Boodle said sadly as he looked at the damage.

"Zoro! Are you still in there? Are you alive?" Luffy asked as he cupped his mouth with his hands to project his voice.

After a few minutes of silence, there was the sound of moving wood. "That sure is one hell of a way to wake a guy up," Zoro muttered as he started to stand up from within the rubble. His body showing bits of steam due to the explosion. Nami, Raven, Boodle and Luffy gave a sigh of relief. Luffy couldn't hold back his laughter as Raven went up to help him out from the destroyed home.

"Ugh, I could've had a few more z's," Zoro muttered before he was dragged out and brought to the small group by Raven.

"Stop complaining! You are lucky to be alive," Raven muttered as she let him go.

"How did you survive a blast like that?" Nami asked in confusion. Zoro just waved the question off.

Boodle then stepped up and growled," I won't stand for this anymore! I won't let him destroy my townsfolk's homes and work these last forty years! I am the mayor of this town and I will protect it and its citizens till my dying breath!" The old man then tried to run off to fight but Nami stopped him.

"You can't beat Buggy!" She said.

"It's better to fight the problem, then run from them," Boodle said. It resulted in a grin from Luffy.

"That's right old man!" Luffy answered with a nod.

"Shut up! Don't egg him on Luffy! It's too dangerous for him," Nami said with a growl.

"I know its dangerous!" Boodle argued. Nami had to let him go for he started to move. When she released him, he started to run down the street yelling, "I'm coming to get you Buggy the Clown!"

"The party seems to get more interesting with every person," Zoro said before looking over to Lea who was starting to move. She was waking up from her unconsciousness. He looked over to Raven before Luffy motioned him to follow as he darted after the old man.

"What's with all the noise," Lea groaned as she sat up. She then pressed a hand to her head as she tried to fully wake up.

"Boodle ran off to fight Buggy and Zoro and Luffy followed," Raven explained.

Lea sighed as she stood up. "Guess we better go and make sure they don't kill themselves." Raven nodded before they darted in the direction that the others ran off to.

It didn't take the girls long to find them at Buggy's base. Boodle was nearby confronting him. Buggy was on top of the building and looking down at the man with mere amusement. "Come out Buggy the Clown!" He yelled. "I am Mayor Boodle and this town is my treasure. I will not let you terrorize my people any longer. Come out and face me!" Boodle demanded.

"You idiot, this is not treasure. Treasure is gold, silver and jewelry. So cut the crap and get out of here oldman," Buggy replied with a smirk.

"You can never understand the way I feel!" Boodle yelled as he wasn't moving an inch.

"The world will belong to me and if this town means so much to you, then I will kill you first so you will not have to see its destruction," Buggy said simply as he held up his arm. He used his powers to launch his hand at the mayor and it snagged him by the throat. He started to clamp down.

"S...shut up and f..fight me a..already!" Boodle choked out and winced as he tried to get some breath back into him.

"Don't get cocky," Buggy replied.

"I'll never let you destroy this town! Even if it costs me my very life!" The mayor was able to choke out as he was starting to go pale.

"So be it," The pirate captain intoned. Suddenly a hand gripped Buggy's appendage and pulled it away with some strength. He made the hand release its grip on the mayor one finger at a time. "Curse you strawhat," Buggy muttered.

"I"m here to kick your ass Buggy, just like I promised," Luffy smirked.

Buggy growled and grunted as he tried to get his hand back. After a bit of the limb struggling to be freed, Luffy lets him have it. The hand then made its way back towards its owner. "Damn you strawhat," He growled from the top of the blue roofed building he was standing on.

Beside Luffy, Boodle was on the ground coughing as he tried to regain his breath. The color slowly started to return in his face. Zoro walked up to the two as well as Nami. Lea and Raven soon came to the side of Luffy. Their arms crossed over their chests.

"How dare you! You can't walk up to me and treat me like that! I'M CAPTAIN BUGGY! I WON'T STAND FOR THIS!" Buggy snarled.

"Wow, he is even more annoying that I thought he would be," Lea muttered in a deadpanned tone. Raven couldn't help but chuckle at her comment.

From behind Luffy, Nami pointed a finger at Zoro. "All I want is the treasure and the chart and then I'm outta here, you got it?" She said.

"Yeah...I got it," Zoro said unamused. A roll of his eyes had been made afterward.

From the ground, Boodle started to cough once more. "Get...out, why did you f..follow me? Y..you're outsiders. Leave this t..to me. This is my fight. I..need t..to be the one to protect my t..town," Boodle said as he grabbed his staff. He uses it to slowly hoist himself up onto his legs. "B..buggy is mine-"

In one swift motion, Luffy had knocked out Boodle with one punch. "Damn it Luffy, not again!" Lea said as she shook her head. Nami gasped while Raven bit her lip and sighed.

Nami ran to Luffy and began to scold him, "What the hell Luffy?! Why did you knock him out!"

"Because!" Luffy said as he dusted his hands before turning to her with a big grin. Lea then slapped him in the back of the head. He winced a bit before muttering something under his breath.

Zoro then stepped up to Luffy's side. "It wasn't a bad idea, if Luffy didn't stop him, he would've gotten killed," he defended. "It's for the best."

Nami bit her lip unsure at first before she nodded. That didn't stop her from ranting to Luffy about a more humane way of dealing with Boodle. The whole time, Buggy was just watching the small group with amusement. He had raised an eyebrow as Luffy walked towards him in a bow-legged fashion. He watched as the boy took a big breath of air.

HEY BIG NOSE!" Luffy screamed. Those words hit Buggy like a brick shattering glass. The crew of the clown pirate were shocked. The captain's face gapped before a bout of anger made him red around the collar.

Nami screamed at Luffy, "THAT WAS THE WORST THING YOU COULD'VE SAID TO HIM!" The comment with situation made the two sisters laugh in the background.

Buggy's usual high pitched voice suddenly turned dark and low as he muttered, "You dumb, flashy idiots. I won't stand for this! Take aim and fire the Buggy Ball!" Soon a few members of Buggy's crew brought the cannon towards the edge of the building and aimed it at the small group.

"Why did you have to say that!" Nami cried before getting out of the line of fire.

"Come on guys, we need to go," Zoro said.

"You go on ahead Zoro," Luffy said as Raven and Lea stood by his side.

"Time to die!" Buggy interrupted as he shouted the command to fire.

"I'm fine, just watch," Luffy said as the cannon was fired out from the plume of smoke that it produced. A red ball with Buggy's Jolly Roger came barreling out and towards the trio. Luffy had stepped in front of the girls and inflated himself as he shouted, "Gum Gum Balloon!" When the ball hit his stomach, it went into it for a bit before launching right back at the enemy. They all gasped as it came barreling towards Buggy.

"He just repelled my Buggy Ball!" Buggy snarled as he went wide-eyed.

Zoro had turned towards the girls before muttering, "You two could've warned me." His eyes then went back to Buggy.

Raven just smirked and placed her hands on her hips. "What's the fun in that?" She asked him. Lea just giggled with a smirk. The trio's attention was then drawn to the explosion of the Buggy Ball. It had landed on target.

Luffy was holding onto his hat as the wind died down. "I got them,' He grinned.

Nami was on the ground nearby. She turned to look at Luffy and growled, "What kind of monster are you!"

Zoro had stepped even closer to his captain before chuckling as he pointed his thumb at Nami. "I think you freaked her out a bit,"

Luffy was going to respond when he narrowed his eyes at the rubble. Buggy had gotten up and in his hands were two knocked out men that he used as a shield. Their bodies smoking from the impact. "How dare you try to flashly due me in!" He snarled as his severed hands released the two men. Buggy was unharmed as he folded his arms.

"Unreal! He used his own men as a shield," Nami mutters.

Nearby Buggy, in the rubble, Beast Tamer Moji woke up and began to stand up. As he did, he spotted Luffy and Raven. "Oh no, not you two!" He shouted. His eyebrows twitched when Luffy just waved to him with a smile. His eyes then turned towards Lea and he muttered, "How are you still alive!" His response ignited some laughter from Lea.

Buggy wasn't amused at all this and he began to snarl at the group as Moji headed towards him. "Be careful with him, he's a rubber man," Moji said to Buggy.

"What?!" Buggy muttered as he turned his gaze at the lanky boy. He watched as Nami asked him about being a rubber man. Luffy simply nodded as he pulled his cheek to show his powers to her. She freaked out as Lea's laughter continued to ring in the background. Out from the rubble behind Moji and Buggy came a green haired man. In his hand was Moji's lion. He simply tossed it to the side, the creature had blocked the explosion from hurting him. Moji was over Ritchie's body and trying to calm it down.

"How are you going to deal with this problem?" Cabaji asked his captain.

"Oh Cabaji," Buggy said with a smirk, in his eyes were pure anger. "I"m too angry to even think,"

"What the hell did you do to my Ritchie!" Moji snarled to the green-haired man.

"This cat? I used him as a shield to keep my clothes from getting dirty," Cabaji said simply as he dusted off his clothes. The lion had looked over at him before getting up and hiding behind a piece of broken wall. Lea's laughter had calmed down as she watched the Lion. Moji got angry and tried to hit Cabaji. It a second,the beast tamer was kicked and was flung towards the group. "Out of my way!" Moji screamed at him.

Seeing the incoming man, Raven quickly pulled out her giant hammer from behind her back and struck Moji towards a building. "Excuse me? How about you get out of OUR way?" She said with a hiss as she twirled her hammer before pointing it at Cabaji and Buggy in a threatening way.

"Captain Buggy?" Cabaji asked from behind the clown. His eyes cold and a smirk on his lips.

"Yes Cabaji?" Buggy answered, his own smile twisting to a cruel grin.

"Allow me to repay their disrespect."

Buggy grinned more at his offer. "Fine, but make it a good show for everyone," He said to Cabaji before sitting up a little more to see how the fight would go.

The green-haired man nodded as he launched himself into the air with his unicycle from behind Buggy. His grin wide like the cheshire cat's. Nami gasped at the sight before asking the Luffy and his crew who he was, but before anyone can answer, Cabaji, with precision and speed, cycled towards the group. He unsheathed his sword in a quick motion as he said, "You may call me Acrobat Cabaji, Captain Buggy's chief of staff! You will all pay for your insolence!"

The tip of Cabaji's blades was getting close to Luffy before Zoro jumped in front of Luffy and parried his attack with a block with his own sword. "I'll clash swords with you," Zoro said simply as he was holding onto his second sword. The third was sheathed at his side, for now.

"It's an honor to battle you Roronoa Zoro. To a swordsman like myself, I relish the chance to kill you," Cabaji cackle with aa lick of his lips. His eyes glanced down to Zoro's bandaged side.

"Hey Zoro, you should really get some rest. Let me handle this guy," Luffy said as he eyed his crew mate and then Cabaji.

"Just stay back,' Zoro replied simply.

Cabaji just smirked at the small talk before saying, "Arsonist's Technique!" He pulled down the checkered scarf that covered his mouth to breath fire into his face. As Zoro tried to deal with the flames, Cabaji kicked him in the wound.

Zoro winced and knelt down as held onto his side in pain.

"That didn't hurt, did it?" The acrobat said with a smirk.

"Zoro!" Nami said in worry.

Cabaji stabbed his sword into the ground beside him as he shouted another attack. "Acrobatic Technique: Murder at the Steam House!" He then used his sword and spun it around to kick up a small dust storm that shrouded his whole body.

"Acrobat my ass, it's just an ordinary dust cloud," Zoro muttered to himself before getting up and quickly pulling up his sword to counter Cabaji's that came from within the dust storm. He couldn't dodge the kick that was aimed at his wounded side. Zoro groaned in pain as he held onto his side.

"What a disgraceful sight to see a grown man groaning," Cabaji mocked. "I suppose now you understand how foolish it was to make enemies with the Buggy Pirates."

Nami turned to look at Luffy and the girls. "Why are you just standing there? He's going to get himself killed!" Luffy just shook his head at Nami in a knowing way. He had a feeling Zoro would be fine.

"Roronoa Zoro is finished!" Cabaji declared as he rushed towards the hurt man with a grin.

"You annoying little bastard," Zoro said as he stood up. "You had fun poking at my wound?" He asked as he looked up, his eyes dark. "Then go ahead," Zoro said simply as Cabaji's sword penetrates the wound, making it worse. As it's in the wound, Zoro breaks the tip and moved out of the way as Cabaji raced by with eyes wide in shock.

"Why did you let him hurt you more!" Nami cried out to Zoro but got no answer.

Zoro just smirked, "Is that enough handicap for you? Now let me show you what I can do!" He said before putting his sword in his mouth and unsheathed the third one by his hip.

"Yes Zoro!" Luffy screamed energetically.

"Don't encourage him!" Lea scolded Luffy. She was pissed that he had worsen his wound more, when she had gone through the effort of trying to prevent it from getting worse in the first place.

"Fool! You made a vast error in judgement and I won't be mocked!" Cabaji growled.

"I won't let myself lose to anyone who calls themselves a swordsman," Zoro said simply, though it was a little muffled due to the handle in his mouth.

"I see, a strong resolve keeps you going, but have no fear. You will lose to me," Cabaji said as he pointed his sword at him, the tip gone.

"To hell with that, to lose to someone like you, even with these small injuries would be stupid," Zoro countered.

"Why you,' The acrobat growled. Nami decided to run off to get the treasure, since everyone's eyes were on the fight at hand.

"Let me show you my ultimate acrobatic technique," Cabaji stated as he took out three spinning tops. "Acrobatic Technique: The Dance of a Hundred Kamikaze Tops!" He then threw them. The three tops became a hundred and all were flying towards Zoro. Luffy's crewmate began to slash at the tops and the broken halves of the toys were dropping like flies, all the while a smirk was on Cabaji's face. Instead of heading to Zoro straight on, he shouted. "Acrobatic Technique: HIke Over the Mountain!"

Cabaji then sped up the wall of a nearby house on his unicycle before he loomed over Zoro. "Fireworks in the Summer Breeze! Sting of the Unicycle!" He shouted as he held his sword straight down.

Lea had taken this chance to look around and spotted Buggy getting ready to play dirty. She slowly moves her way to Buggy without being seen. Buggy releases his hand but before it could go anywhere, one of Lea's throwing knives pinned it to the ground. Buggy grunts and tried to get it back but it wouldn't budge. The clown pirate captain was a bit taken back by this action because usually knives can't keep him pinned. As Zoro quickly dodged the attack from Cabaji to see Lea looming over Buggy's hand. "Lea,' he said softly.

"You bitch!" Buggy snarled.

"Don't even think about it," Lea said sternly as she kept her foot on top of the knife's handle. Keeping it pinned down for now.

Luffy had walked up behind Lea and eyed Buggy darkly. "If you want to fight someone, fight me."

Cabaji spoke to Zoro as he got ready for another attack. "I assure you, I don't need my captain's help to finish you off." He was rolling back and forth on his unicycle in anticipation.

"Then why did you agree to his help in the first place, you idiot," Lea said dryly to the acrobat. She got an eye roll in response.

"Enough, I'm tired of this!" Zoro said as he shifted his weight a little.

Cabaji laughed, "So you finally chose to give up. I have to commend you for keeping up with my tactics with that wound."

"I think you misunderstood, I'm tired of watching your boring little sideshow," Zoro said simply.

Cabaji's eyes twitched and he smirked as he stated, " Sorry to disappoint you, how about my real swordsman skills!" He charged at him once again while yelling, "Die Zoro!"

"Onigiri," Zoro muttered before using his three-sword style to strike Cabaji in the chest.

As Cabaji stood there shocked, he uttered, "I can't believe the Buggy Pirates were defeated by petty thieves." He coughed before falling off his unicycle and onto the ground.

"We aren't petty thieves!" Lea said before realizing that Raven had sneaked off somewhere. She had a suspicion that it was to follow Nami.

After a moment or two, Zoro collapsed. Lea spotted him and ran off to help him. "We're pirates!" Zoro said before passing out. Lea shook her head.

"Idiot," Lea sighed in a loving tone. She then gently pulled him to the side before going and standing next to Luffy.

"You guys are pirates?" Buggy asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah," Luffy replied simply. "We're searching for the Grand Line."

"Ha! That's not an easy voyage you know. I don't think the likes of you can handle it,' Buggy snickered.

"Paradise isn't that bad," Lea muttered. Buggy narrowed his eyes at her as he overhears her.

"And what will you do if by a miracle you get there? Go sightseeing or something?" Buggy asked before bursting out laughing.

"Be King of the Pirates," Luffy said. That made Buggy stop his laughing fit.

"You can't be serious, you idiot!" Buggy said as he got up from his throne and started to walk down to him.

"Oh, he's serious alright," Lea said with an eyeroll.

"If you were King of the Pirates, then that would mean I"m a god," Buggy snorted. "There can only be one king,"

"You're annoying," Luffy said before getting into a fighting stance. "Let's settle this." At this point, Luffy had pulled out the dagger that was in his hand and thereby releasing it back to Buggy. He then handed Lea back her throwing knife.

Once the clown pirate got his hand back, he took out his knives. "Seeing you in that hat really makes my blood boil. So bring it on you wanna-be pirate. You remind me of him. That damn red-haired pirate!"

Luffy blinked, "What did you say?" He asked. Lea just narrowed her eyes at Buggy. "The red hair..are you saying you knew my old friend Shanks?" He asked.

"That's right, I knew Shanks once."

"Do you know where he is now?" Luffy asked.

"I don't know, that depends straw hat, maybe I do or maybe I don't," Buggy said in a sickening way.

Luffy blinked, "What are you saying? Did you forget?"

"No I didn't forget, you moron!" Buggy said exasperatingly. He then showed off his knives. "I'm not just gonna tell you where he is from the kindness of my heart. You have to work for that info," He said simply.

"Fine. I'll make you tell me," Luffy said and the reaction brought Buggy into a fit of laughter.

"You can try your best shot, but I don't like your tone." Buggy said before attacking. "Chop Chop: Rice Platter!" He said as he spun his limbs around and they came detached from his center body before racing towards Luffy and Lea. Luffy barely dodged as he jumped into the air. "Can't dodge in mid-air?" Too bad!" He laughed as he then released his knives to target him. Lea had barely dodged the attack.

"No, you're wrong!" Lufly said as he stretched his arm to grab a pole. He laced his other arm around Lea and pulled her out of the way. One blade just barely scratched above Lea's eyes. That simple cut made her resemble her Uncle Shanks.

Buggy spotted Lea and laughed, "Oh, how interesting."

"Dang it. At least it missed my eye and it isn't deep,' Lea grunted in mild pain.

"You okay?" Luffy asked in concern.

"I'm fine,' she said.

Buggy pointed at Lea and yelled, "You..girl! You remind me of Shanks also."

"Well that would be because I am his niece," Lea replied.

"You're Scarlet's daughter!" The pirate clown exclaimed in panicked anger.

"You got it. I heard many stories about Shanks' and her's early years. You were mentioned many times,' Lea said in a bored tone. She then turned to Luffy and said, "I'm going to leave the rest to you Luffy, until my wounds heal." She then made her way to the unconscious Zoro.

Raven soon appeared from behind a nearby building and she walked over to Lea. She quietly explained to her that she had followed Nami to make sure she didn't rat them out. Her tone then went to a nurturing tone and fussed over the wounds of the two.

"You always were such a mother hen," Lea said fondly as she rolled her eyes. Raven just shook her head. As the trio were to the side, Luffy continued to spar with Buggy. Luffy was barely dodging his attacks and one attack caused him and the hat to be nicked.

As he held the hat in his hands, his whole demeanor darkened as memories flashed through his eyes. Lea and Raven turned to look at him and knew something wasn't right. Luffy the screamed, "NO ONE TOUCHES MY HAT YOU BASTARD! IT'S MY ONLY TREASURE!"

Buggy then smirked, "Oh, it is? Then you should protect it," He laughed wickedly as he launched another attack. As Luffy dodged, the hat got enough air to fly off his grasp. The straw hat then was speared by the knives in Buggy's severed hand. Luffy's eyes had gone wide and his irises grew slim in anger. Buggy then brought the hat closer to him. "How could you treasure a straw hat? Treasure is gold, siler, and jewels!"

"PUT. THE. HAT. DOWN," Lea growled darkly from the sidelines.

"Or what?" Buggy asked before realizing that Raven had slipped out of sight. At the last second he dodged a hammer to the head.

In the split second of opportunity, Luffy pinned Buggy to the ground and growled, "Tell me where Shanks is and what happened between you two!"

"Shanks is the one person I loathe the most," Buggy began to explain. "All these years I have not forgiven Shanks, he has stolen many riches from me. I don't know how you two are connected but I can say whatever the hell I want about him. I earned that!" he spat. He then proceeded to explain his reasoning. How him, Shanks and his twin, Scarlet, were on the same ship together. He said how he and Shanks fought over stupid things, like which was colder the north or south pole. He also told them about the one time that he had found a treasure map and during that same night that their crew had found a devil fruit.

It was the same devil fruit that he had eaten. Right before he left to explore on his own, he stole the devil fruit and had eaten it when he had freaked out by Shanks when he surprised him. When he realized it was only Shanks, he had accidentally lost his grip on the treasure map and it floated above the water. He told them that he wanted the map so bad that he fell overboard and realized that he couldn't swim. He then recalled that Shanks called Scarlet before hearing a splash and feeling Shanks's arms around him as he was brought back onto the ship.

Before Buggy could say anything more, Luffy interrupted him. "So Shanks saved your life?" He asked.

"No, that's not the point I'm trying to get across! Because of what he did to me, I was unable to swim! Therefore unable to get my sunken treasure. Then I had a revelation. If I couldn't get the sunken treasure, I will collect all the treasure on land," he said with a creepy smile. "All by using my new Chop Chop powers."

"Mom was right, he does have a one track mind," Lea said to herself which resulted in a glare from Buggy.

"Now those who touch my treasure, shall not live," Buggy said as his upper body started to float up and his knives were unsheathed. As he floated higher, he spotted Nami with his giant bag of treasure. "Just like this THIEF!" He cackled before darting towards her.

Nami screamed, "Dammit! He spotted me!" She started to run, Buggy on her heels.

"You don't have a chance of escaping me!" Buggy growled. "Now I'm going to chop you up!"He said before stopping and his eyes grew wide.

Nami winces as she thought she was going to die but when she cracked open an eye, she started to burst out laughing. Her eyes went to Luffy who had kicked him in the balls. Lea and Raven joined in with their own laughter.

Buggy's upper body dropped to the ground as he coughed, "That was a cheap shot!"

Through her laughter, Lea commented, "You're the last person to be talking about cheap shots!"

"Don't run off yet! We're not done!" Luffy grinned. He then turned to Nami. "You better drop that treasure and run, before he goes after you again, " He said.

"No!" Nami replied. "Drop the money and go? Why should I leave my treasure?!" The comment made Buggy twitch.

Lea leaned over and muttered to Raven who had calmed down from the laughing fit, "That girl." She then went and sat down next to Zoro and let his head lay in her lap.

Raven shrugged as she placed her weight on the handle of her hammer.

"She's going to get herself killed, isn't she?" Lea said as she watched the scene.

"We will all die one day," Raven said simply with a shrug. "That's if we choose to or not for the day at hand."

Lea raised a brow and looked up at her sister with a deadpan look, "You know what I meant!" Raven just smirked in response.

From the ground, Buggy started to growl, "Did...you just call it….YOUR treasure?"

"You heard me! MY treasure," Nami replied. "I am a thief that steals from pirates and i just stole some from a REALLY. ANNOYING. ONE. So this makes it mine now, you understand?"

"Ahh..that makes sense," Luffy said in agreement.

"I guess that makes sense?" Lea said in confusion as her hand gently pet's Zoro's head in a calming manner. Her hand gently glided through his green hair.

"It's MY treasure! Even if you stole it doesn't mean it's yours!" Buggy said.

"Said every pirate ever," Raven said with a role of her eyes. "Finders keepers." Lea couldn't help but release a small chuckle from her comment.

"What have your parents taught you?!" Buggy growled.

Raven quirked an eyebrow, "you're a full grown pirate. Manners don't apply to someone like you. After all you did just say that you'll steal the treasures from the land. Where are YOUR manners now?" She asked as she folded her arms.

Lea coughed while muttering, "Hypocrite,"

Buggy snarled and looked at the two chatty girl's nearby. "Stay out of this, or you'll be next."

"Touchy. Like we are afraid of you? I had learned enough about you from my mother," Lea said with a raised brow.

Buggy just rolled his eyes before looking back at Nami who was smirking. "Please, the day I take moral lessons from you is the day that I stop being a thief!" nami said confidently which made Buggy even more mad.

"Are you ready for the consequences? Cuz here comes Chop Chop: Festival!" Buggy snarled and his whole body separated into many pieces. The pieces rush by Luffy as Buggy said, "Try and stop me now Gum Gum!"

"Dammit! He broke up into smaller pieces!" Luffy growled. He had a moment to look down to see Buggy's two feet walking around. He raised a brow and muttered, "What the…" He then started to smirk as he got an idea.

"Nami! Give me back my treasure!" Buggy growled as he focused all his attention on chasing her down.

Luffy grabbed one foot and took off the shoe. He held it in his hand as he started to tickle it. An outburst of laughter was soon heard from Buggy and Lea. Luffy pulled at the top of his foot which made Buggy wince in pain. Raven shivered at the feeling. Luffy looked over his shoulder and smirked at the reaction. He then got another idea. He firmly grasped the foot with the toes facing the ground. He then lifted it above his head a little before slamming it on the ground. Buggy let out a yowl of pain. Both Lea and Raven winced at the scene.

"Dammit! Knock it off!" Buggy snarled.

"No, you knock it off!" Nami replied as she hurled the bag of treasure into Buggy's face. Luffy smirked but it faltered when it was revealed that Buggy caught the bag with his severed hands a grin was on the clown's face.

Buggy lowered the bag and in a creepy voice he said, "Thanks for giving me my treasure back Nami." Nami didn't let go and tried to shake him off but it wasn't working.

As Buggy was about to stab Nami, Luffy had came over and slammed his leg into Buggy's face. "I told you that we weren't finished yet!" Buggy's face flew and scraped against the ground as his beloved treasure fell around him as the bag tore. Coins scattered everywhere and a crown rolled out of sight. "Consider that a gift from the mayor!"

Buggy slowly got up and snarled "This isn't over yet!" His eyes were now ablaze. "You'll pay for this!" He then smirked. "Chop Chop Parts ASSEMBLE!" He yelled and outstretched his hands to reclaim his body. When his parts came back, all that appeared were his feet, hands, and his head. Seeing Buggy, Lea and Raven burst out laughing.

"You look like a kiddie toy!" Lea said through the laughter. Raven nodded in agreement, she then looked over at Nami and smirked. Nami was standing with the rest of Buggy's body parts. They were all tied together with rope that she found. She kept the wad of body parts down with her foot.

"Looking for these Buggy?" Nami asked with a bigger grin. Buggy looked around frantically before looking at Nami and he looked shocked. Luffy just smirked.

"What!?" Buggy snarled which made Luffy laugh out loud.

"Alright! Way to go Nami!" Luffy said excitedly as he stretched his arms behind him to the max length they can go.

"Stop it now!" Buggy snarled.

"Not a chance! Gum Gum: Lift Off!" Luffy yelled as he brought his hands forward in rushing speed. . His palms hit Buggy's face and he went flying over the house top. Luffy's arms then snapped back to normal and he pumped his fist in the air. "I win!" He yelled with a grin.

"Nicely done Luffy," Lea said as she looked down at Zoro to check on him. He didn't stir from his little nap. Raven gave him a thumbs up. Nami just stared as her eyes twitched.

Luffy smirked before walking over to the girls and Zoro. As Luffy got close, Lea handed him the hat with a frown. Both Luffy and her were deeply upset that the hat was damaged. It held a special place in their hearts and had a lot of memories for both of them. "Sorry your hat's all torn up," Nami said in the distance as she started to gather up the fallen treasure.

"Don't worry, I can still put it on, so I'm satisfied for now," Luffy explained as he placed it on top of his head.

"When I have time, I can fix it for you," Nami said gently.

"What's that?" Luffy asked slightly confused, his head tilted to the side.

"Nevermind," Nami said quickly. "I had to split the money into two bags, so help me carry it," Nami replied as she held up one bag for him.

Luffy nodded and took the bag before asking, "So does that mean you'll be joining our crew then?"

"No, I told you that I"ll never join a pirate crew…" She said in thought, "...Actually, fine, I'll come with you, but only because it's beneficial to me."

Luffy grinned, while Raven and Lea raised their brows. Luffy then came towards Lea as he bent down to Zoro. "Zoro, wake up. We're leaving." He started to poke his face to try and stir the sleeping swordsman.

Lea hits Luffy in the head which made him wince a little, "Luffy stop."

Zoro grunts from below and started to blink open his eyes. There was a slight blush as he spotted Lea before he muttered, "You finished?" The pink on his cheeks were now gone.

"Yeah," Luffy said as he helped him up and off of Lea's lap. As her captain stood up with the green haired man, Lea stood up as well. "We also got a navigator too!" Luffy said with a grin as he pointed his thumb at Nami.

"As I said, I"m only with you for the benefit of me," Nami said as she crossed her arms, the bag of treasure by her feet.

"Tch, figures," Zoro muttered

"Let's go help the mayor," Raven said to them as she went to help pick up the unconscious mayor from the nearby house.

"Hey, you there!" Came an angry voice from behind them. The rest of the village had gone out to try and find their mayor. "What are you doing with our precious mayor!"

"We saved him from the pirates…" Raven tried to explain.

"But why is he unconscious?," Someone from the group asked as he pointed at his rather limp body in her arms.

"We had to do it, to protect him. He was about to face Buggy all by himself. He wouldn't stand down," Lea explained.

"He could've gotten killed," Raven added.

During the midst of the talking between the two groups, Boodle woke up. The crowd quieted down as they looked at their mayor as Raven handed him to them. As the village started to discuss things with Boodle, Raven backed up and towards her crew.

"Luffy; get Zoro. We have to leave," Lea whispered to Luffy. He nodded and grabbed him before the group slinked out of sight and started to run towards the docks.

As they had the docks in view, Luffy pointed out the small fishing boat. "Hey, is this your boat?" Luffy asked Nami as they came to it.

"Nothing special, but it will do. I got it from three stupid pirates," Nami said with a smirk. When Nami said that, the three captives that Raven had tied up to the mast were now free. They were standing in the boat and smirked as they came close.

"Remember us girly?" The one asked.

Another one said, "You didn't expect to see us again, did you?"

Raven laughed as she started to slowly reach behind her back to grab Good Ol' Lucy. She let the metal shine in the light of the sun and into the eyes of one of the tree pirates before them. "Well, I did," She said before she swung her hammer and sent the one in the hat flying and into the water. "Lucy is hungry for some chumps.," She snickered as she watched the reactions of the other two. Lea shook her head as one by one, the other two were hit off the boat.

"Well, that's taken care of," Zoro said with a raised brow and a slight chuckle.

Raven answered him with a cheeky grin. It wasn't long after that, that the small crew started to take off from the port. As they were a good distance away from the dock, Boodle had came into view and waving his arms to try and get their attention.

"Hey you! Wait! Young ones!" He called out to them.

Luffy looked behind him to see the mayor. He raised a brow and pointed at him, "It's the mayor."

"Thanks! Thank you! You all come back any time!" Boodle called out to them as more village people started to come to his side. "You are all honorable citizens of this town!" Bootle said with a grin, a few tears in his eyes.

"Wow, "Lea said as she blinked. Raven, Luffy, and Zoro just smiled and gave a nod. Nami blinked as she looked at them all and raised a brow.

"Don't worry about it! Take it easy!" Luffy called out as they continued to sail further and further away from the dock and the village.

As soon as they got far enough away, Nami had counted her stash in the boat next to Luffy's. She found that she was a bag short and desperately looked around before staring at Luffy. "What did you do to my treasure!" She asked.

"I left one there, they are going to need it," Luffy said with a nod. "They're going to need it to help rebuild their town."

"What would you do if it were your town?" Lea said to her.

Nami was going to say something, but the comment made her stop and she became distant. She stepped away from the edge and the crew on the other boat. She then went inside the cabin and wasn't heard for the rest of the night.

Lea blinked and looked at the others with a worried look, "Did I say something wrong?" She asked. The others just shrugged.


End file.
